On May 9th, 2024, the Book Club met again at the Fairfield Centre, with nine very participatory members who discussed The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese. Our member Gina Steele lead the discussion about the book and walked the group of 9 members through the author’s history and awards that he has won for medicine. Gina is to be commended for not only recommending this 725-page book but taking on the research and presentation to the Book Club.
If you’re interested in a detailed, warm and multi-generational tale that intertwines family drama with historical and cultural shifts in India, “The Covenant of Water” should be a compelling read for you.
The Covenant of Water, set in Kerala, South India, truly is an epic love letter to a country that Abraham Vergese loves deeply. It was written with so much depth, with so many characters and over multiple generations that it begs the reader to read it more than one time! The author had woven so many details into this book that are linked in different chapters that until you read it close to the end, you may not make the connection.
“The Covenant of Water” is a novel by Abraham Verghese, first published in 2023. It’s a historical fiction set in Kerala, South India, and spans the period from 1900 to 1977. It is about a family in India haunted for over 75 years by a medical mystery.
The narrative begins at the turn of the century with a 12-year-old girl named Mariamma from Kerala’s long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, being sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time. She becomes the matriarch of the family, known as Big Ammachi, overseeing a large 500 acre estate. She witnesses unthinkable changes over the span of her extraordinary life, full of joy and triumph as well as hardship and loss, her faith and love the only constants.
Her son, Philipose, grows up to be a celebrated writer. Other members of the family become physicians. The story follows three generations of this family that experiences a peculiar affliction where at least one person in each generation dies by drowning—a significant detail considering Kerala’s abundant water bodies. This fate was destined to occur due to an affliction known as “The Condition” (revealed later to be Von Recklinghausen Disease, also know as Neurofibromatosis).
The Covenant of Water has been praised for its evocation of a bygone India and its exploration of progress in medicine and human understanding. It is a humbling testament to the difficulties undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today.
It has received positive reviews and was nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Historical Fiction in 2023. It was also selected by Opra’s Book Club in 2023. However, some critics have pointed out that while the characters are well-loved, they may lack the complexity and subtleties of real-life individuals.
To see a 7 minute interview by Tracy Smith of CBS news with Abraham Vergese where he discusses The Covenant of Water, Click Here.
Probus Club of Kingsway-Islington 