Water is divine.
Within and without, it sustains life.
It is revered
It is feared.
Water is Mother.
It heals.
It redeems.
Water moves.
Its reach embraces us all.
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese, is a beautiful work of art.
The story begins with the arranged marriage of a grieving 12 year old girl to a seemingly withdrawn widower, decades her senior.
Fearful and desperately lonely, she struggles early on to assimilate into her new family dynamic which includes not just her husband but his young son as well.
In time, and through unyielding faith, this young girl will eventually become a formidable woman, earning the honorific, Big Ammachi, matriarch of an expansive family: immediate, extended, and chosen.
The term “Big” speaks not of her size (Big Ammachi is a tiny woman), but of the enormous respect and love that she evokes in others.
From the main story of Big Ammachi, her family, and the other inhabitants of the small Christian Indian community of Parambil, there is an aqueous outgrowth of subplots spanning Southern India, connecting disparate characters in a way only brilliantly fluid storytelling can.
The Covenant of Water is a remarkable multigenerational novel set against the backdrop of British Colonial Occupation, India’s eventual independence in 1947, and the turbulent political environment post-occupation.
This is a lovely novel that leaves a lasting impression, blending art and medicine, religion and family lore, love and loss.
Water is revered.
Water is feared.
Water heals.
Water redeems.
Embracing us all.
~G
I love your poem! And the review! It was a gorgeous read