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When Dr. Abraham Verghese visited Kepler’s Books on his first book tour, he was surprised at the turnout for his reading.
“I distinctly remember it because first of all, I was shocked to see that there were more than 10 people there because this was my first book. It was a slow start, but there were about, I think, 30 to 40 people, which, to me, was great,” Verghese said in an interview with this publication.
The physician and author was at Kepler’s to discuss his 1995 memoir, “My Own Country: A Doctor’s Story.” Since that first tour, the crowds at his readings have grown, to say the least. He has published three bestsellers: a second memoir and two novels. Oprah Winfrey chose his most recent novel, 2023’s “The Covenant of Water,” as a Book Club Pick. He received a Heinz Award in 2014 and the National Humanities Medal from President Obama in 2015. He is also the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Verghese recalled from his first Kepler’s reading: “I remember seeing a gentleman and his wife sitting there, and after the talk, I asked him what he did, and he said, ‘Well, I’m in infectious disease.’ He was very reluctant to talk about himself, but he finally told me he was Gary Schoolnik, who’s been a legend in infectious disease at Stanford for a long time. So I never forgot that. And many, many years later, in 2007, I was recruited to Stanford and delighted to see Gary and remind him of that first encounter at Kepler’s.”
Verghese notes that after two decades as a physician and professor at Stanford University, he has now lived in the Bay Area longer than anywhere else, internationally or in the U.S. It turned out that during that 1990s tour stop, that he was also visiting his future neighborhood bookstore.
He will be back at Kepler’s Books on Nov. 16 for a special fundraiser event to discuss his works and help celebrate the recent launch of Kepler’s Leadership Circle, a donor initiative to support the bookstore and Kepler’s programming.
“I think there’s a relevance to the fact that I’ve lived here for 20 years as a physician and a writer, and this really has informed my writing, my worldviews, and so I’m hoping that we have a discussion that wouldn’t be the same if it took place anywhere else,” he said.
Medicine eventually brought Verghese to the Peninsula, but long before that, it led him into writing. His first book that he discussed at Kepler’s,” My Own Country,” shared his experiences treating HIV patients in rural Tennessee.
When in 1985, he began working as an assistant professor of medicine at a medical school in Johnson City, Tennessee, he had been told he probably wouldn’t see many patients with HIV. But in a relatively short time, he saw over 100 HIV patients. He realized that many patients, often young gay men who left to live more openly in cities, were coming back to their hometowns.
“Typically, their partners had died, and they were now ill. So they were coming home, and there I was at the tail end of this migration. So I wrote a scientific paper that was widely cited, describing this phenomenon. But even as I did, I felt that the language of science didn’t begin to capture the tragic nature of the voyage. It didn’t begin to capture the heartache of the families, and so that was kind of the moment I became a writer,” Verghese said.
He earned an MFA in 1991 from the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
Medicine has been a thread through his other works, appearing in very different ways. His second book, “The Tennis Partner,” told of Verghese’s friendship with a medical resident who struggled with substance abuse, while his debut novel, “Cutting for Stone,” follows the lives of twin sons born in Ethiopia to an Indian nun and British surgeon.
Verghese was born and raised in Addis Ababa, where his parents, who were from South India, worked as teachers.
“The Covenant of Water” is set in Kerala, a state in southwestern India known for lush waterways. It follows multiple generations of a family from the 1900s through the 1970s that has lost many members over the years to drowning, to the point that it is known in the family as the “condition.” Several of the characters are doctors. Verghese used his mother’s family stories as a jumping-off point that established the setting and feel of the novel.
“My mother kept a journal for her granddaughter, my niece, and tried to recollect stories of her own time being a little girl in India,” he said. “That manuscript was so rich, and there were things in there that I didn’t know, but they were a reminder of that era, and the richness of a culture that may not be monetarily rich, if you know what I mean.”
“When I used to visit as a child in summers from Africa, where my parents were working, it was a beautiful thing to go there and have candlelight and lamps and go to the well and draw your water. It never felt like a deprivation. Reading my mother’s journal was a reminder that it would be rich to set a story in that setting, so that’s really what it was. I think she was deeply helpful in that regard.”
When Oprah Winfrey made “The Covenant of Water” a book club pick three years ago, she also co-hosted a six-part companion podcast with Verghese to take a deep dive into the book.
“You often hear from readers, but it’s rare that you hear from a reader in such depth about the characters. And often, when I was pushed about ‘Where did this come from and why this,’ I found that very often I didn’t know. I think the subconscious comes up with things that you know after the fact. You can try and put some sort of label or try and categorize it, but it’s almost undefinable,” he said of the podcast.
“The second thing I noticed was there were patterns that emerged. There were themes that I hadn’t consciously sought to bring about, but there were themes of redemption, themes of the redemptive quality of forgiveness. There were things that just kept coming up, and (Winfrey) was astute to point them out to me and point me to them.”
Verghese also recently took part in a 30th anniversary episode for the book club, hosted by Winfrey, which also featured Ocean Vuong, Barbara Kingsolver and Viola Davis.
“When you find a book that resonates with you, it’s because you recognize within yourself some of the truths that are being explicitly or otherwise made true for you there,” Verghese said of what he hopes readers take from his work.
“I think every reader brings their own story, their own take on it, and if it resonates with them, it’s for deeply personal and yet universal reasons that make it resonate for all of us. I never feel that this is a one-sided process. The author provides the words, but the reader provides their imagination, and the mental movie that takes place is in the reader’s head, and it’s absolutely unique to each reader.”
Verghese is working on a new novel, inspired by a hobby he took up after looking into repairing his late father’s 1950s watch.
“I take watches that are working and I seem to destroy them,” he joked. He buys junk watches from places like flea markets and “I try to get them working, and that, to me, is absolutely mesmerizing.”
Verghese noted that there are some similarities between the elements of the watch mechanism and the human body.
Of his new novel, he said, “I think it’s going to have a lot to do with time, with perhaps watch movements and the history of watches. I’m fascinated with the history of that, and trying to tie it in with a medical story that I have in mind.”
When that book is finished, it seems like a good bet he’ll return for another reading at Kepler’s.
“In this environment where it’s pretty difficult for independent booksellers to compete against some of the giants, I think the function of a Kepler’s is as a meeting place, as a repository of books, and as a place for people to meet writers that they’ve liked. I think it’s just priceless. I’m flying from far away to come back for this event because it’s so important for me,” Verghese said.
Abraham Verghese will discuss his works with Angie Coiro Nov. 16, 5:30 p.m., at Kepler’s Books, 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park. The event includes a post-program reception. Admission starts at donations of $263.49, which include a copy of one of Verghese’s books. keplers.org/benefit
This story is part of our quarterly Title Pages section, which also includes an interview with journalist, author and surfer Steve Hawk on his “surf noir” debut novel and briefs highlighting recent and upcoming books by local authors.
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