Water Convention

A stunning epic about love, faith, medicine and a family trying to solve a strange mystery. Seventy-seven long years, South Indian Kerala on the Malabar Coast and three generations of a family suffering from a strange affliction. In every generation at least one person drowns - and in Kerala there is water everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from a Christian family whose roots go back to the time of the apostles is sent by ship to meet her future husband, many years her senior. From this point on, the girl - and future matriarch of the family, known as Big Ammachi - witnesses incredible changes over the course of her extraordinary life. While wars rage around the world and India strives for independence, in her home town of Parambil, roads and schools are gradually being built, electricity is being brought to homes and people are receiving medical care. And it seems that the reason why some members of her family have a mysterious fear of water may finally be revealed. The Covenant with the Waters is an evocation of a vanished India, saturated with knowledge, humour and emotion. It is a celebration of human understanding, a story of crossing caste boundaries, the advancement of medicine, and a humbling testimony to the hardships endured by past generations for the sake of those living now. Abraham Verghese (born 1955) is an American physician, university professor and writer of Indian origin. He was born in Ethiopia, where he also began his medical studies; after the outbreak of the local civil war, he worked briefly in the USA and completed his studies in Madras, India. He later returned to the USA. He is currently on the faculty of Stanford University School of Medicine. He is a recipient of the Heinz Award for the Humanities and the National Humanities Medal, awarded by President Barack Obama in 2015. He is the author of two memoirs and two novels. He has published one book in Czech so far - Cut to the Living in 2012. In his literary works, professional texts and medical practice he tirelessly emphasizes the importance of empathy, human approach, "medicine at the bedside". "See the world from your patient's point of view," he often tells students. Adéla Pristášová (actress and dubber) was born in 1982 in Brno. At the age of nine she moved to Prague, where she graduated from the Prague State Conservatory under Gabriela Vránová and Ivan Řezáč. In 2000-2005 she was a guest in the drama department of the Vinohrady Theatre, e.g. in Huncléder, King Stag, Don Juan, Tomas Beckett and others. As a second year student at the conservatory, she was chosen by director Ludvík Ráža for the TV fairy tale "The Shadow" (1998) and the same year she starred in the production "Charles IV's Journey to France and Back" (dir. Zdeněk Zelenka). In 2003, director Hynek Bočan cast her in the series "Hospital on the edge of town after 20 years", where she played the role of nurse Monika. For Czech Television she made the fairy tale "Voděnka" (2005) and several other productions. She has been dubbing since childhood, and currently her voice is used by actresses, for example, in Czech: Karen Gillian (Guardians of the Galaxy, Jumaine), Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Solo: Star Wars Story, Indiana Jones and the Instrument of Destiny), Gabourey Sidibe (American Horror Stories) or Ellen Muth (Dead Like Me) or Christian Serratos (The Living Dead). Copyright: The recording is based on Abraham Verghese's book The Covenant of Water, published by IOTA in 2024. Text Copyright © Abraham Verghese, 2023. Translated from the original The Covenant of Water by Ina Leckie. Translation © Ina Leckie, 2024. Audiobook © Nakladatelství JOTA, s. r. o., 2025. Read by Adéla Pristášová. Directed, edited and mastered by Jiri Lukasek. Published by JOTA Publishing House, p. r. o., in 2025.