The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (2023)

Set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations that suffer a peculiar affliction: in every generation at least one person dies by drowning—and water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a 12 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. 736 pgs “Riveting…a splendid, enthralling novel” The Guardian. “An essential even healing feat of imagination.” LATimes. One of Barak Obama’s favorite books of 2023.