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The Covenant of Water
- Narrated by: Abraham Verghese
- Length: 31 hrs and 16 mins
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Publisher's Summary
OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • SUBJECT OF A SIX-PART SUPER SOUL PODCAST SERIES HOSTED BY OPRAH WINFREY
From the New York Times-bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in Kerala, South India, following three generations of a family seeking the answers to a strange secret
“One of the best books I’ve read in my entire life. It’s epic. It’s transportive . . . It was unputdownable!”—Oprah Winfrey, OprahDaily.com
The Covenant of Water is the long-awaited new novel by Abraham Verghese, the author of the major word-of-mouth bestseller Cutting for Stone, which has sold over 1.5 million copies in the United States alone and remained 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. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala’s long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time. From this unforgettable new beginning, the young girl—and future matriarch, known as Big Ammachi—will witness 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.
A shimmering evocation of a bygone 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 difficulties undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today. It is one of the most masterful literary novels published in recent years.
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What listeners say about The Covenant of Water
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Cindy
- 2023-09-17
Authors Love of Details Make it Long
I must say that this lovely story got bogged down in too many details. The ending was good but again it took the author too long to get there.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 2023-08-02
Moving
This book captured me in so many ways. It teaches so many beautiful lessons. Highly recommend.
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- Laura Gifford
- 2023-09-27
Loved every minute
Absolutely loved this book. The switch of storylines is tough to digest at first but you are very quickly engrossed in the new storyline..stick with it. The author does an amazing job narrating. Its a beautiful book!!
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- Sydney Clark
- 2023-11-05
An Exotic Journey thru Time
The epic nature of this story of love, dedication to one’s calling and the seeking of truth kept me spellbound. I loved the fact that Verghese read it himself. It made it feel so much more personal and intimate. I learned so much about Kerala, leprosy, Indian history and the St.Thomas Christians. I learned more than I perhaps wanted about childbirth and goiters and other surgical practices. My favourite character was Digby and I believed every aspect of the depiction of his life and character. But Big Amichee is the heart and soul of the story, and her generous nature and goodness drew me into the world of Palimdar. What a wonderful book!
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- nova771951
- 2023-11-15
Exquisite.
One of the most beautiful stories I’ve heard. The story runs through three generations and comes full circle in the end.
Beautiful, vivid imagery and hearing it read by the author adds to it’s authenticity.
Thank you for transporting me.
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- Susan
- 2024-01-07
Excellent
This book is long but it is so unbelievable in its language. It is obvious the author but an amazing effort in this story. I wondered as I was coming near the end - what has this Irish man have to do with this story? . Masterfully done. This is a beautiful story which actually is not the best word - magnificent? If you want a novel of characters with great human depth, read/listen to this novel.
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- Susan Migs
- 2024-01-20
Fascinating
Loved all the separate stories within , couldn’t put it down!!
Each mini-story within had me enthralled , enjoyed the language and beautiful words . Intriguingly different from other novels .
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- Lisa v.
- 2024-05-07
This author can read!!!
Great story, awesome characters. Possible the best narration by author I have ever heard. I loved this historical fiction about India.
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- Amazon Customer
- 2023-06-30
Phenomenal
I love when books are narrated by their author, this one especially. Abraham Verghese does and absolutely stunning job at crafting such depth of characters, using so much imagery to convey a beautiful story.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Mimics
- 2023-05-29
Variety of narrators would be good.
Good story - I always enjoy reading a story of many parts and finding them all connecting. The narration would have been better I believe, with another person to give the Irish accent! I kept getting confused as to what story I was listening to!
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