At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl grieving her father is sent by boat to meet her 40-year-old husband. Eventually, she becomes known as Big Ammachi, the matriarch of a family particularly cursed to have one member of each generation die by drowning. From 1900-1977, Big Ammachi and her family see unimaginable changes to her Christian community on South India's Malabar coast.

What a beautiful book! The Covenant of Water is a modern classic that reads like an epic Dickens' novel. This gripping multigenerational story brings the characters and settings and history alive so you feel like you experience their sliver of the world. I really liked that the family curse turned out to just be a genetic condition. In true Dickensian fashion, the whole story comes full circle at the end in a touching conclusion that makes an excellent book even better. I can't recommend it enough.