The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

I loved this book as it is the work of a real story teller. This is the first sentence:

'She is twelve years old, and she will be married in the morning.'

Who would not be instantly drawn in by that? Shocking by today's standards, but in India in 1900, this happened, and it didn't always turn out to be a bad thing.

A marriage broker had arranged the marriage and the groom is a man of forty whose first wife died leaving their baby son with no-one to look after him. By marrying again, the man will immediately have found a nursemaid, cook and housekeeper and the bride's mother (who is a widow) wants to give her daughter the security she cannot provide herself. The bride and groom have not set eyes on each other before the wedding, and the man is shocked to find his bride is just a child and he storms away from the altar. He is only persuaded to return after being persuaded that the shame of being left stranded on her wedding day will mean that no-one else will ever want her. Besides, she can grow up alongside the baby and the marriage bed can wait until she is older. The marriage is eventually a success, and over the years, the bride becomes the respected matriarch of her husband's great estate.

The book is divided into parts told from different points of view and the first time the focus changed it was almost like tripping over a kerbstone. I didn't want to read about a young man from Scotland, just take me back to India! Then before I knew it I was gripped by that story too and I can honestly say there is never a dull section in the whole seven hundred or so pages.

If you need something to carry you through some long winter evenings then this is the book. The scenery is spectacular and the characters are all wonderfully drawn, even the elephant that comes to work on the estate only when it wants to. It's really great story and if I was giving out stars it would get five.

Comments

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