Verghese is a master
storyteller. This novel’s genesis was stories from his mother written in a
spiral notebook, but what the author did after that is nothing short of
miraculous. It is an art to bring the reader into the consciousness of the
characters the way he does.
We follow them through their joys and their
tragedies, these generations of a family that we come to love with all their
flaws, illnesses, courage, and humanity. I don’t understand when readers say
they don’t like to read unhappy or disturbing stories or books, for by
entering into the darker side of various characters, we are often transported
into the light.
This book overflows with love—partners; mothers for children; fathers for children; and extended family. I couldn’t pick up another novel for
days after, knowing that nothing could compare. It deserves the undivided time and attention of the reader. It’s not a quick
read, but honestly, it was one of the most satisfying reads of my life (and I
am not young). It is a novel on a level with War and Peace, but more
digestible.
OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • SUBJECT OF A SIX-PART SUPER SOUL PODCAST SERIES HOSTED BY OPRAH WINFREY
From the New York Times-bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in Kerala, South India, following three generations of a family seeking the answers to a strange secret
“One of the best books I’ve read in my entire life. It’s epic. It’s transportive . . . It was unputdownable!”—Oprah Winfrey, OprahDaily.com
The Covenant of Water is the long-awaited new novel by Abraham Verghese, the author of…
I was swept into the mind of the protagonist, Ulysses, from
the start, a young man who carried a wry sense of optimism, who accepted all
for who they were, and who had a deep sense of caring. (He took a child to
raise on his own!)
The author avoided being sentimental, but at the same time, her book is imbued with love, albeit among a group of outliers who fail at
traditional love relationships yet who discover over time their loyalty to
each other. I liked the “era” when it was set, after the Great War. I
loved being in Italy, and the inclusion of art history thrilled me.
The author presented Evelyn as intelligent, elegant, eloquent, entertaining (someone you wish you knew), and gay. This is presented
seamlessly, naturally, and beautifully, unlike some recent novels that need to
hammer the reader on the head with that knowledge. I adored little Alys, who grew up in front of my eyes and who, like many wounded children, has wisdom.
A wonderful read. It was hard to say goodbye to it.
A captivating, bighearted, richly tapestried story of people brought together by love, war, art, flood, and the ghost of E. M. Forster, by the celebrated author of Tin Man.
Tuscany, 1944: As Allied troops advance and bombs fall around deserted villages, a young English soldier, Ulysses Temper, finds himself in the wine cellar of a deserted villa. There, he has a chance encounter with Evelyn Skinner, a middle-aged art historian who has come to Italy to salvage paintings from the ruins and recall long-forgotten memories of her…
This memoir is an important book, for it changed the French consciousness (and law) about statutory rape. And it brought down the famous author, Gabriel Matzneff, who set out to groom a fourteen-year-old girl into having an affair with him. Some of his earlier books were about his lust for little boys. He was, in fact, a pedophile, disguised as an author.
This is far from a misery memoir, which is how detractors
like to describe women’s memoirs dealing with assault or abuse. The writing
describes the political climate in which Springora enters into a relationship
at fourteen with a man who has a paternal smile, which had great appeal as her
abusive father had abandoned her mother and her.
I couldn’t put the book down, though there are a few
cringe moments as I am like, he wouldn’t! But, of course, he would. I have a daughter, and I would have fought hard against a man like that daring to think he could seduce
my daughter, but Springora’s mother was in a different country and of a
different mindset, the hedonistic 60s era.
I love that, with words, Springora was able to bring
this man into the spotlight and show him for who he truly is. I love that it changed the attitude that men of letters can do as they please and get
away with it. I was practically cheering at the end when I wasn’t in tears.
She is no Brittany Spears, whose memoir today is hailed
as a tour de force, but neither did Springora set out to have the world at her
feet. Her story is beautifully told and honest. She is a hero.
Already an international literary sensation, an intimate and powerful memoir of a young French teenage girl's relationship with a famous, much older male writer-a universal #MeToo story of power, manipulation, trauma, recovery, and resiliency that exposes the hypocrisy of a culture that has allowed the sexual abuse of minors to occur unchecked.
Sometimes, all it takes is a single voice to shatter the silence of complicity.
Thirty years ago, Vanessa Springora was the teenage muse of one of the country's most celebrated writers, a footnote in the narrative of a very influential man in the French literary world.
NYPD detective Max Maguire flies to France to attend her friend Chloé Marceau's wedding in the Valley of the Marne in Champagne; she meets the older and urbane Olivier Chaumont, an examining magistrate, and experiences a fairy tale evening.
When Chloé's beautiful and successful aunt, Léa de Saint-Pern, is found murdered after the wedding dinner, Max and Olivier are shocked back into their professional roles. But to Max's chagrin, Olivier is responsible for the investigation.
Olivier learns that several people were attempting to gain control of Léa's business at the time of her death. Quietly using the skills inherited from her detective dad, Max insinuates herself into the victim's family until their long-held secrets spill like marbles from an overturned dish.
