I admit, I have taken a rather long break from blogging about books. To be honest, life got in the way of my reading; however, I’m re-committing to the stress relief I get from free reading, and in doing so, reviving this blog.

I have read only a few books during my blogging break, but none as memorable as “The Covenant of Water.” This book has shown up on several “Best of 2023” reading lists and for good reason! It is a surprisingly uplifting book about a girl from India, first chronicling her life and then switching to the stories of her surviving relatives from the 1900s until the 1970s. Why I say that it was “surprisingly uplifting” book is because the initial main character, Mariamma, was only 12 years old when she was married off to a 40-year-old man. Now, anyone who has seen movies or read books like “The Color Purple” knows how poorly this can go, but her husband was respectful and kind throughout, which was a relief to me.

One of my favorite things about this book was how it described authentic Indian culture and cuisine throughout the timeline. As you can expect, a lot changed in India during those 70 years, but the author does an excellent job of walking the reader through it. I loved hearing how Mariamma made traditional Indian foods, especially how she did it before electricity, her belief in the friendly spirit living in her cellar and the changing litany characters throughout her long life. I won’t spoil the “water” plotline, but it was well done too.