In 'The Covenant of Water,' Abraham Verghese traces an Indian family's drowning curse

The Covenant of Water follows three generations of a family in the coastal state of Kerala, India, where they're haunted by a devastating event, over and over: In every generation, someone in the family drowns. In today's episode, Dr. Abraham Verghese tells NPR's Ari Shapiro about the medical themes in the novel, and how his daytime occupation as a physician and professor at Stanford University informs his writing.

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