Abscond

by Abraham Verghese

If you have heard of award winning Abraham Verghese’s books, but are not sure you want to invest the amount of time that it would take to read The Covenant of Water, for example, then I encourage you to sample Verghese’s work by reading the short story “Abscond” which features a thirteen year old boy. It is amazing what Verghese can do with either a full length novel or a short story. You will meet fascinating characters that you care about and visit a culture that is probably different from your own.

This short story focuses on resilience and rituals that help get us through times of grief. We learn to just sit with someone who is grieving. Although “Abscond” is about the death of a character, because of its themes and the author’s approach, it is not a sad book.

Rating: 5/5

Category: Short Story, Fiction, Multicultural

Publication:   July 1, 2025—Amazon Original Stories

Memorable Lines:

He wanted to retreat to a time before he knew his father, a time when he was buffered from the world and its sorrows by his mother, spared any sound but the drumbeat of her heart, a time when memory had not existed, and so loss could not.

Billy had offered Ravi the thing he most needed: his quiet, silent presence.

“…maybe all these rituals are to help me figure out how to go on. Because right now, I have no clue.”