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Oprah Winfrey in conversation with Abraham Verghese

 Oprah Winfrey in conversation with Abraham Verghese

Abraham Verghese with Oprah Winfrey

New 6-part podcast undertakes “a soulful, extraordinary journey” with Indian American author of ‘The Covenant of Water’

Oprah Winfrey‘s OWN Podcasts launched a new 6-part series featuring her in conversation with author Abraham Verghese to talk through the themes and plot of his latest New York Times best-selling book, The Covenant of Water.

This latest selection in Oprah’s Book Club, Oprah felt compelled to create space for a special conversation to dig deeper into this powerful novel in a one-on-one discussion with the writer to unveil and dissect all that the rich text has to offer, according to a press release.

READ: Every change in geography changed my destiny: National Humanities Medal winner Abraham Verghese (September 25, 2016)

About the podcast, Oprah says, “Come along with me on a soulful, extraordinary journey through adventure, family secrets, medical mysteries, romance, and finally, the shimmering resilience of the human spirit.”

“The Covenant of Water is truly one of the most gripping, exquisite novels I have ever read,” she says. “Now I’m excited for you to hear our captivating conversation with the brilliantly talented author.”

Episodes of “The Covenant of Water” Companion Podcast launched on June 21 are released weekly. One can also watch on YouTube and Spotify.

The Covenant of Water is the long-awaited new novel by Verghese, the author of the major word-of-mouth bestseller ‘Cutting for Stone,’ which has sold over 1.5 million copies in the United States alone and remained on the New York Times bestseller list for over two years.

Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere.

At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala’s long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time.

READ: Abraham Verghese among recipients of the 2015 National Humanities Medal (September 15, 2016)

From this unforgettable new beginning, the young girl—and future matriarch, known as Big Ammachi—will witness unthinkable changes over the span of her extraordinary life, full of joy and triumph as well as hardship and loss, her faith and love the only constants.

A shimmering evocation of a bygone India and of the passage of time itself, The Covenant of Water is a hymn to progress in medicine and to human understanding, and a humbling testament to the difficulties undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today.

Verghese is Professor and Linda R. Meier and Joan F. Lane Provostial Professor, and Vice Chair for the Theory and Practice of Medicine at the School of Medicine at Stanford University.

He is also a best-selling author and a physician with a reputation for his focus on healing in an era where technology often overwhelms the human side of medicine.

He received the Heinz Award in 2014 and was awarded the National Humanities Medal, presented by President Barack Obama, in 2015.

Author

  • Arun Kumar

    Arun Kumar served as the Washington-based North America Bureau Chief of the IANS, one of India's top news agencies, telling the American story for its subscribers spread around the world for 11 years. Before that Arun worked as a foreign correspondent for PTI in Islamabad and Beijing for over eight years. Since 2021, he served as the Editor of The American Bazaar.

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Arun Kumar

Arun Kumar served as the Washington-based North America Bureau Chief of the IANS, one of India's top news agencies, telling the American story for its subscribers spread around the world for 11 years. Before that Arun worked as a foreign correspondent for PTI in Islamabad and Beijing for over eight years. Since 2021, he served as the Editor of The American Bazaar.

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