The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

 This multigenerational saga starts around 1900 with the wedding of a 12 year old girl to a 40 year old widower and father of a young son. She later finds out that her husband suffers from "the Condition"--which runs in his family. Its symptoms include a fear of water and a loss of hearing, among others.

As that story unfolds, we are introduced to Digby, a young Scottish boy living with his single mother. He later becomes a doctor. A third story involves a leper colony in India. And yes, I was dying to know how the author was planning to tie all these disparate threads together--but tie them together he does.

This book is full of memorable characters--Rune, a Swedish doctor working with the lepers, Ammichi--the 12 year old at the beginning of the book who becomes the family matriarch, and Shamuel--the longtime faithful servant of the widower.

This sprawling saga is over 700 pages long, so make sure you pick it up when you have plenty of time to read. But it is an engrossing story.