The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

At almost 800 pages, I hesitated to start this book even though it came highly recommended. Having waited for a long time for it at my library, I decided to try it. Oh my! What a wonderfully written, engaging, and unforgettable book.

In 1900, a twelve-year-old girl in India was married off to a 40-year-old man. This could be a more traumatic experience than it already was, but her husband is kind and waits until she is older to consummate the marriage. The girl, later known as Big Ammachi, becomes the matriarch of a family cursed with a condition where members drown in every generation.

Meanwhile, in Glasgow, a young doctor signs on to the Indian health service and is sent to work under the guidance of an incompetent, racist hospital administrator. What follows is his life as he comes into his own in the medical community in India.

I knew these two storylines would eventually meet, but it took a while as I followed the life of Big Ammachi through three generations. It is a story of love, loss, and exploring the political structure in turn-of-the-century India. Big Ammachi is a larger-than-life character, and her life, like most of ours, is filled with happiness and tragedy. How the characters and situations develop is a beautiful trip through a pivotal time in Indian history. Even after nearly 800 pages, I was reluctant to let the characters go. The story never lags, and I often neglected my to-do list to read just a few more pages in this epic family saga. Don't let the size of the book distract you. It's an adventure you shouldn't miss.

 5/stars

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Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls

 I didn't read Jeannette Walls' best-selling memoir "The Glass Castle," but I'm rethinking that decision after reading this book. Walls is a fantastic storyteller, and I'd like to know more about her background.

Sallie Kincaid, the daughter of Duke Kincaid, the ruler of a small county in rural Virginia, is the apple of her father's eye. Her mother, Duke's second wife, is killed when Sallie is young, and Duke quickly remarries and has a son, Eddie. When eight-year-old Sallie puts her brother Eddie's life in danger, she is sent to live with her poor maiden aunt, and there she remains for nine hard-scrabble years until the death of Eddie's mother. Duke recalls Sallie and tasks her with teaching Eddie how to be more like his hard-charging father, but Sallie, truly her father's daughter, has bigger goals in mind: she wants to help run the family's bootlegging business. Only the Kincaid lines of succession and the view of a woman's place in society hold her back.

This moving family saga set in prohibition-era Virginia captured my imagination and had me rooting for feisty Sallie Kincaid from page one. It is a fast-paced novel filled with plot twists and family secrets. Walls' writing is exceptional, and the characters are true to life. I highly recommend this book.

5 stars.

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Amazon | Barnes & Noble