We have finally made it to the lazy, hazy days of summer; a time to kick back and relax with a good book. Some folks will seek out reads that are light and breezy and some will want to dig into something more complex, requiring more of a commitment. If you fit into the latter category, The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese may just be the perfect choice for you! This is his first book since his award-winning Cutting for Stone was published in 2010 and the long wait was worth it!

Set in India, this story begins in the early 1900’s when a twelve-year-old girl whose father has recently died, is married off to a 40-year-old widower with a young child. I have to admit, I started to have internal clenching at what I thought might be another tale of cruelty to young brides at the hands of their husbands, but my worry was for naught. This union would be the beginning of a great love story which would expand across three generations and spider out across the country in touchingly fluid ways. Through it all, Verghese’s medical training and historical insight is evident in the plot lines and background stories.

Politically, India at that time was ruled by the British and the author brilliantly layers all of the narratives with the political nuances of the time. There were some in the Indian community who benefitted by the Raj, but millions of others did not, and their resentment was at a constant simmer. The evolutionary progression of the practice of medicine was another connecting thread throughout and I was in awe of the practical and theoretical detail Verghese wove into the story, especially around Hansen’s disease (commonly known as Leprosy). 

All of the characters are richly established and no one seems superfluous to the narrative. The reader is pulled into their lives and can easily be drawn into the emotional turmoil that befell all of them with varying degree throughout. This book is 715 pages but it doesn’t feel onerous. Lots of dialogue, short chapters and shifting perspectives make it read more easily that the size might imply. 

In short: a great summer read.