Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. This week, NPR launched our annual

Books We Love Guide, the big collection of our favorite reads this year. And so this week and next on

the pod, we're bringing you books that warmed their way into our hearts this year at NPR.

And if you want to see what else we love, you can check out the interactive platform online.

Today, we're going to listen to an interview with Abraham Verghese. He's a writer and a doctor.

And his book, The Covenant of Water. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe.

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Was one of the biggest books this year.

And I sort of mean that literally it's an over 700-page story covering three generations of an Indian family.

But it's also big in that, you know, as of my writing this, it's still on the New York Times bestsellers list and it got the seal of approval from Oprah's book club.

When it came out, Vergi spoke to NPR's Ari Shapiro, and they talked about how writing has to speak to some sort of inner truth.

And Vergeese says something poignant that he thinks novels are always a form of atonement.

That's after the break.

Abraham Vergeese is a physician and an author whose books always reflect some part of his life.

His new novel is called The Covenant of Water.

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