The Testament of Water

A new novel by the author of “The Cutting of Stone,” which, immediately after the release of the American edition, became one of the main bestsellers. An epic story about people, India, and medicine. Southern India, family secrets; elephants casually... visiting for lunch; mysterious spirits living underground; medicine, its romance and harsh reality; destructive passions and healing wisdom. And adventures, dreams, lots of colors, sounds, light, human stories woven into the story of India. It all begins in 1900 and ends in the late 1970s, although in reality, it never truly ends. The story spans several generations of a family of Indian Christians from Kerala, remarkably intertwined with the history of a Scottish doctor from Glasgow, whose fate led him to India. Yet Abraham Verghese’s novel is not just a family saga in exotic settings. It is a wise and kind tale about how family is created not by blood ties but by a shared destiny; that there is always a choice, but the strength to make it is not always present; that we are all forever connected to one another by our actions and inactions and that no one remains alone.