The Covenant of Water

An epic tale about people, India, and medicine.

South India, family secrets; elephants casually coming to visit for lunch; mysterious spirits dwelling underground; medicine, its romance and harsh reality; destructive passions and healing wisdom. And also adventures, dreams, a lot of colors, sounds, light, human stories intertwined with the history of India.

It all begins in 1900 and ends in the late 1970s, although in reality, it never truly ends. The story of several generations of a family of Indian Christians from Kerala, remarkably connected to the story of a Scottish doctor from Glasgow, whom fate brought to India. Yet, Abraham Verghese's novel is not just a family saga in exotic settings. It is a wise and kind tale about how family is created not by blood relations, but by a common destiny; that there is always a choice, but not always the strength to make it; that we are all forever connected to each other through our actions and inactions, and that no one is ever alone.