But the novel would have benefited from a tighter edit it feels overstuffed with often exaggerated and contrived incidents. One learns a good deal about Kerala, about how medicine was practiced and how it evolved, about folklore and rituals, customs and cuisine, geography and the history of modern India. “The Covenant of Water” is admirable in its ethic, impressive in its research, and interesting in its anecdotes. Her children and grandchildren develop in surprising ways her son, Philipose, devours long novels from “Moby-Dick” to “Great Expectations” and becomes an eminent writer. The vulnerable, confused young girl of the novel’s opening section develops into a “competent mother,” an adored wife, and ultimately an indomitable matriarch known as Big Ammachi. The next section takes us briefly to Glasgow and a doctor named Digby and then, after a leap forward of 13 years, back to India.
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