The Covenant of Water

The Book on my table : The Covenant of Water By Abraham Verghese This 736 page novel came to me from my son Kiran few months back. I'm yet to read. Have glanced through and may, one day, start reading. Perhaps today. My reading is not relevant. I envy people who are able to focus on lot of research before writing. Nowadays, there are many who have taken up writing seriously, and as a passion, like Manu S Pillai (author of Ivory Throne with focus on Travancore) Priced at less than 500 The Covenant of Water spread in 736 pages in small print is a collector's item. The Covenant Of Water : An Oprah's Book Club Selection https://amzn.in/d/1lRomHe Amazon Book Description OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER SUBJECT OF A SIX-PART SUPER SOUL PODCAST SERIES HOSTED BY OPRAH WINFREY ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S BEST BOOKS OF 2023 WINNER OF THE VIKING AWARD FOR FICTION WITH A SENSE OF PLACE '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 Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water follows a family in southern India 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, 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 poignant beginning, the young girl and future matriarch - known as Big Ammachi - will witness unthinkable changes at home and at large over the span of her extraordinary life, full of the joys and trials of love and the struggles of hardship. A shimmering evocation of a lost 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 hardships undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today. Imbued with humour, deep emotion and the essence of life, it is one of the most masterful literary novels published in recent years. Order the book today. Can become unavailable or expensive tomorrow. To understand the background of my statement, I will tell you a story : I was in SSLC class during 1958-59. One of our Sanskrit texts was priced Rs4/- The text had 40 pages. Monthly school fees was 75 Paise(12 Annas) which was being paid by well-wishers. I purchased a note book for 2 Annas and borrowed the Sanskrit text from a friend during a weekend. Copied the text in 2 days in the notebook and used it. Subsequent several years I purchased hundreds of books. Recently disposed of while vacating our Thiruvananthapuram house for renting out. Now I am using the rent for buying new books. M G Warrier