If you liked
Books like The Covenant of Water
by Abraham Verghese
The Covenant of Water is Abraham Verghese's vast three-generation saga set in South India, a family marked by a strange affliction and the doctors who try to understand it. It is immersive, medical and enormous of heart. If you want more sweeping sagas you can disappear into, read on.
The shortlist
What to read next
Cutting for Stoneby Abraham Verghese
“Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese 2009 review. Twin brothers are born in 1954 Addis Ababa to a secret affair between a nun and a surgeon. Verghese's first major novel and one of the canonical contemporary American literary novels of medicine.”
Pachinkoby Min Jin Lee
“Pachinko by Min Jin Lee 2017 review. Four generations of a Korean family in twentieth-century Japan, beginning with Sunja's pregnancy by a married Korean gangster in 1933 Busan. The Apple TV+ adaptation source and one of the canonical contemporary Korean-American literary novels.”
A Gentleman in Moscowby Amor Towles
“A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles 2016 review. Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced in 1922 to lifelong house arrest at the Hotel Metropol. Towles's second novel and one of the most consistently recommended contemporary American literary commercial titles of the past decade.”
The Pillars of the Earthby Ken Follett
“The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett 1989 review. The building of a twelfth-century English cathedral against the backdrop of civil war. The 1,024-page novel that defined the modern epic historical fiction.”
Bel Cantoby Ann Patchett
“Bel Canto by Ann Patchett 2001 review. South American guerrillas take an opera singer and her audience hostage in a vice-presidential mansion. Orange Prize and PEN/Faulkner winner.”
The Heart's Invisible Furiesby John Boyne
“The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne 2017 review. Cyril Avery's life across seven decades - adopted out of 1945 Catholic Cork, navigating the closeted gay Ireland of the 1960s through the 2010s. Boyne's literary commercial masterwork.”
FAQ
Common questions about The Covenant of Water read-alikes
- I want more Abraham Verghese.
- Cutting for Stone is the one, his earlier saga of twin brothers born in an Addis Ababa mission hospital, full of the same medical detail and huge heart. If The Covenant of Water's scope and doctors drew you in, it is the obvious next read.
- I want another multi-generational family saga.
- Pachinko by Min Jin Lee tracks a Korean family across the twentieth century, and The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett builds a medieval epic over decades. Both deliver the settle-in-for-hundreds-of-pages immersion.
- I want the warmth and the strong sense of place.
- A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles and Bel Canto by Ann Patchett both create rich, self-contained worlds you do not want to leave. More contained than Verghese, but the storytelling pleasure is the same.
- I want the whole-life emotional sweep.
- The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne follows one life across seventy years with humor and heartbreak. A strong pick if the generational reach of The Covenant of Water was the appeal.
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