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I was warned by more than one person that this book was not equal to Cutting for Stone and might disappoint me. That was not the case. I found it had the same depth, the same magical quality, and the same ability to put me in a particular location and in the skins of the characters. IMHO, Verghese has done it again.

The Covenant of Water follows three generations of an Indian family who have a “condition�� that makes them unable to tolerate water and susceptible to drowning. Once more, Verghese brings his medical expertise to bear on a very human story. He immerses his reader in the culture of India, without ignoring the pitfalls of a caste system and the influence of the British.

One thing Verghese does that might be jarring to some readers is switch between stories as he follows different characters through their lives. He begins with a young girl, unnamed, which I think is very intentional, who at 12 years of age is about to be married to a much, much older man. I became very invested in her story and suddenly found myself in what could be another book entirely as Verghese takes up the story of Digby, a young doctor from Glasgow, on his way to India to get the surgical experience he is being denied in Scotland.

Again, I was completely drawn into Digby’s story when I was transported back to the original set of characters. It was necessary to trust Verghese to run these two parallel lines together at some point, and he was entirely worthy of this trust. I personally found both stories so compelling that the switches from one to another were only momentarily startling.

This book is replete with profound themes, including the nature and purpose of suffering, the role of religion in coping with life, the ties of family, the question of fate vs. free choice, the danger of secrets, and the importance of love.

“Forgive me, Lord.�� She thought her prayers were unanswered. But God’s time isn’t the same as hers. God’s calendar isn’t the one hanging in her kitchen. To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.

What’s fur ye won’t go by ye, Digby thinks. It was a phrase his mother would use: whatever is in his destiny will come to him, regardless.

I found much of the book to be about this balance: trusting and waiting for God to intercede and finding the destiny you cannot avoid, the one that gives you purpose, the one that makes your life meaningful. Sometimes the destiny we want is not the one that is meant for us; but the one that is meant for us can be richer than we imagine.

There is also the sense of loneliness and isolation that comes from being different. Yet, it is the difference that makes each of these characters so extraordinary. It is the sorrows and tragedies that inform their talents and what they give back to the world in which they live. They do not leave the world as they found it.

Yes, old man, yes, eyes open to this precious land and its people, to the covenant of water, water that washes away the sins of the world, water that will gather in streams, ponds, and rivers, rivers that float the seas, water that I will never enter.

This is a very weak review for a very marvelous book. I cannot match the inspiration or convey the exceptional depths of thought this book stirred in me. I believe Abraham Verghese is one of the great writers of his time.