Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water of follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala on the South Indian Coast, water is everywhere. 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 humbling testament to the difficulties undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today. It is one of the most masterful literary novels published in recent years.

Abraham Verghese is senior associate chair and professor for the Theory and Practice of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine. He sees patients, teaches students, and writes. His first book, My Own Country, about AIDS in rural Tennessee, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Cutting for Stone, his first novel, has sold over 1.5 million copies in the United States alone and remained on the New York Times bestseller list for over two years.