This was one of my favorite books, not just of 2024. Abraham Verghese is an exceptional writer. Every sentence is beautifully crafted and one wonders "how can someone write so lyrically?" I love books with clear and interesting plots. "The Covenant of Water" offers a truly unique and captivating plot beginning with the arranged marriage of a young girl to a much older man in southern India. Its a sweeping tale following three generation and it also explores a medical mystery.
Abraham Verghese is a doctor and consequently much detail is given to medical conditions and their treatments. This was all fascinating even with my limited knowledge of medicine.
In order to give my total endorsement, I need to enjoy well developed and interesting characters. Guaranteed that you will be immediately drawn into the characters of this book and how they grow and change as the story develops. Not essential but something I really appreciate in a book is the absence of villain's. Almost everyone in this book is likeable, honorable, and someone you would have wanted to know.
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…
This book is told from the perspective of Huck Finn's slave/companion/friend. It is beautifully written and provides the reader with a unique view of the life of a slave.
I particularly liked the passage describing the school lessons that James offered to other slave children. He taught them how to talk in "slave" talk and how to respond to their white masters in order to maintain their position of servitude and to escape any bad repercussions if they happen to slip into the wrong speech or to show that they may have known something that their master did not. My takeaway, sadly, was that parents of black sons today continue to have to teach this to their children in order to keep them safe.
This a creative, wonderful story gives the reader the history of the life of slaves and the day to day hurdles they faced. The relationships that develop throughout the book bring richness to the story.
'Truly extraordinary books are rare, and this is one of them' - Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author of Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha
James by Percival Everett is a profound and ferociously funny meditation on identity, belonging and the sacrifices we make to protect the ones we love, which reimagines The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. From the author of The Trees, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and Erasure, adapted into the Oscar-winning film American Fiction.
The Mississippi River, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a new…
This non fiction book kept me enthralled and wanting to keep reading. It requires concentration but is well worth it. The author has done extensive research thus providing the reader with new information about the evolution of the human race, specifically centered on women.
Cat Bohannon's writing style is clear and powerful and very readable. I am typically not a nonfiction reader but since having written my book, I have been seeking historical books. I consider Eve to be a "must read" for anyone interested in learning more about anthropology, evolution, and evolutionary biology.
Though long, this is not a ponderous book. Cat uses anecdotes and humor to bring our early ancestors to life. I came away with a great deal of knowledge about how we as a species have survived and thrived. Did you know that our species was able to survive and flourish because of the development of midwifery and the use of botanicals to treat ailments.
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2024 SHORTLISTED FOR THE ROYAL SOCIETY TRIVEDI SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE 2024 FOYLE'S NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 LONGLISTED FOR BLACKWELL'S NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 ONE OF THE GUARDIAN'S BEST IDEAS BOOKS OF 2023 ONE OF THE TELEGRAPH'S FIFTY BEST BOOKS OF 2023 ONE OF PROSPECT'S BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2023 ONE OF DUA LIPA'S SERVICE95 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR '5 INSPIRING READS TO KICK START THE NEW YEAR'
'Funny and very important' Chris van Tulleken, bestseling author of Ultra-Processed People
'Educates and emboldens' Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author…
“Low flying planes began to direct their machine gun fire at the refugees. All four of us had crawled into a large culvert. We heard the bullets crackle again and again. Then the ground trembled under the hooves of shying horses breaking away from their fully laden carts. They raced above our heads sounding like wild drum beats. I was lying in the culvert, pulling snails from the walls, as unconcerned as if all this had nothing to do with me. It was an almost euphoric feeling.”
Three young Jewish sisters from Leipzig, Germany huddle together in the cold darkness of night waiting for their smugglers to rescue them and bring them to freedom in Belgium. Their mother, in a state of shock following Kristallnacht, is left behind, sedated in a psychiatric hospital. November 1938 begins the four-year ordeal of the seven member Kroch family who endure unfathomable conditions in their fight for survival: imprisonment in French internment camps, hiding in a tiny tool shed, and adapting to the deplorable conditions of a Nazi prison. The memoirs of Alexandra, age 11, and her sisters, 15-year-old Eva and 14-year-old Judith, interweave as they recount the true story of their escape from the Nazis.
Leaving behind their life of luxury, the girls describe unimaginable hunger, deprivation and fear. Family love, music, and the close friendship of strangers are the essential ingredients that sustain them through the hardships they face at every step. Two factors ultimately saved them: rescuers and enormous luck. A narrative backdrop threads through the story, providing the socio-political context. From a historical perspective and from the three sisters’ witness accounts, the reader will come to understand the progression of antisemitism in Germany and France, the course by which Hitler dismantled democracy, the role France adopted as Nazi collaborators, and how the Swiss policies towards Jews were executed.
This story of resiliency and courage will inspire and uplift. By reading Three Sisters, a testament to the human spirit, you will bear witness, and in so doing, keep the memories of the Holocaust alive.
“When you listen to a witness, you become a witness.” ― Elie Wiesel
