Set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning. At the turn of the century, a young girl, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her 40-year-old husband for the first time. From this unforgettable new beginning, the young girl will witness unthinkable changes over the span of her extraordinary life.

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 testament to the difficulties undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today.

Verghese, the recipient of a National Humanities Medal, is a renowned Stanford physician. His previous novel, Cutting for Stone, remained on the New York Times bestseller list for over two years; his novel My Own Country was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and The Tennis Partner was a New York Times Notable Book.