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The Covenant of Water
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Narrated by:
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Abraham Verghese
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Written by:
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Abraham Verghese
About this listen
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.
©2022 Abraham Verghese (P)2022 Recorded BooksYou may also enjoy...
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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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- 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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- Anonymous User
- 2023-08-15
Wow
Absolutely beautiful and tragic. Poetic and smart, each word carefully chosen to evoke the mood and feelings of each and every character. Loved, absolutely loved the author’s narration and bringing the characters to life.
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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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- Amazon Customer
- 2023-06-27
What an enjoyable novel!
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel from start to finish, it definitely was very entertaining with the author reading it.
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- Dominique Guenette
- 2023-10-17
Best book/audiobook by far.
Even better was listening to the author tell the story. I was submerged into the world of these characters and I will miss them forever.
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- Pamela
- 2023-12-01
Riveting. Provocative. Artistic and lyrically performed.
From first page I was enamored with the descriptive words, smooth voice and story. I have enjoyed this story, these characters and this slice of " history" immensely!
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- Anonymous User
- 2024-01-31
Marvellously intertwined!
I only disliked that it ended. I fell in love with every character. Such a fan.
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- Amazon Customer
- 2024-02-22
An immersive escape
Enchanting and captivating storytelling that is absolutely impossible to set aside. I was drawn inside and it left a mark
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- Helen
- 2024-03-19
Riveting believable story
Good narration, easy to listen to. I liked this story very much, enjoyed this glimpse into life in India. So much tragedy, and heartache, but such IS real life.
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- Seeker of truth
- 2023-07-25
Best all encompassing fiction book
This book of life events and human nature was well-written and very engaging.
I was first turned off by the length of the book but am grateful that I took the challenge.
There are several storylines; some come together quickly and others take some time, but be patient for you will be rewarded in the end.
Thank you Brother Verghese for opening my understanding.
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