The Covenant of Water

Abraham Verghese The Covenant of Water ISBN: 9780802162182, 9780802162175 Kindle / ASIN: B0BJSGV831 Genre: Literature Goodreads Rating: 0.00 Hardcover, 724 pages Published: 2023 From the New York Times–bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial new epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in Kerala and following three generations of a family seeking the answers to a strange secret. 'The Covenant of Water' is the long-awaited new novel by Abraham Verghese, the author of 'Cutting for Stone.' Published in 2009, 'Cutting for Stone' became a literary phenomenon, selling over 1.5 million copies in the United States alone and remaining on the 'New York Times' bestseller list for over two years. Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. The family is part of a Christian community that traces itself to the time of the apostles, but times are shifting, and the matriarch of this family, known as Big Ammachi—literally “Big Mother”—will witness unthinkable changes at home and at large over the span of her extraordinary life. All of Verghese’s great gifts are on display in this new work: there are astonishing scenes of medical ingenuity, fantastic moments of humor, a surprising and deeply moving story, and characters imbued with the essence of life.A shimmering evocation of a lost India and of the passage of time itself, 'The Covenant of Water' is a hymn to progress in medicine and to human understanding, and a humbling testament to the hardships undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today. It is one of the most masterful literary novels published in recent years. The Covenant of Water A Novel Abraham Verghese Grove Press New York Copyright © 2023 by Abraham Verghese Illustrations © 2023 by Thomas Varghese Map by © Martin Lubikowski, ML Design, London Jacket design and artwork by Kelly Winton Jacket artwork adapted from watercolour, Palmyra Palm Trees, by H. Schlagintweit, 1855. (Public Domain/Wellcome Collection). All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Scanning, uploading, and electronic distribution of this book or the facilitation of such without the permission of the publisher is prohibited. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. Any member of educational institutions wishing to photocopy part or all of the work for classroom use, or anthology, should send inquiries to Grove Atlantic, 154 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10011 or [email protected]. This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between these fictional characters and actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Published simultaneously in Canada Printed in the United States of America First Grove Atlantic hardcover edition: May 2023 This book was designed by Norman E. Tuttle at Alpha Design & Composition. This book is set in Janson Text 10.8-pt. by Alpha Design & Composition of Pittsfield, NH. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is available for this title. ISBN 978-0-8021-6217-5 eISBN 978-0-8021-6218-2 Grove Press an imprint of Grove Atlantic 154 West 14th Street New York, NY 10011 Distributed by Publishers Group West groveatlantic.com For Mariam Verghese In Memoriam The Covenant of Water And a river went out of Eden to water the garden. —Genesis 2:10 Not hammer-strokes, but dance of the water, sings the pebbles into perfection. —Rabindranath Tagore Part One CHAPTER 1 Always 1900, Travancore, South India She is twelve years old, and she will be married in the morning. Mother and daughter lie on the mat, their wet cheeks glued together. “The saddest day of a girl’s life is the day of her wedding,” her mother says. “After that, God willing, it gets better.” Soon she hears her mother’s sniffles change to steady breathing, then to the softest of snores, which in the girl’s mind seem to impose order on the scattered sounds of the night, from the wooden walls exhaling the day’s heat to the scuffing sound of the dog in the sandy courtyard outside. A brainfever bird calls out: Kezhekketha? Kezhekketha? Which way is east? Which way is east? She imagines the bird looking down at the clearing where the rectangular thatched roof squats over their house. It sees the lagoon in front and the creek and the paddy field behind. The bird’s cry can go on for hours, depriving them of sleep . . . but just then it is cut off abruptly, as though a cobra has snuck up on it. In the silence that follows, the creek sings no lullaby, only grumbling over the polished pebbles. She awakes before dawn while her mother still sleeps. Through the window, the water in the paddy field shimmers like beaten silver. On the front verandah, her father’s ornate charu kasera, or lounging chair, sits forlorn and empty. She lifts the writing pallet that straddles the long wooden arms and seats herself. She feels her father’s ghostly impression preserved in the cane weave. On the banks of the lagoon four coconut trees grow sideways, skimming the water as if to preen at their reflections before straightening to the heavens. Goodbye, lagoon. Goodbye, creek. “Molay?” her father’s only brother had said the previous day, to her surprise. Of late he wasn’t in the habit of using the endearment molay—daughter—with her. “We found a good match for you!” His tone was oily, as though she were four, not twelve. “Your groom values the fact that you’re from a good family, a priest’s daughter.” She knew her uncle had been looking to get her married off for a while, but she still felt he