Cutting for Stone

English language

Published Jan. 4, 2010 by Vintage Canada.

OCLC Number:: 990450845

(1 review)

The story is a riveting saga of twin brothers, Marion and Shiva Stone, born of a tragic union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and their father’s disappearance, and bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution.

But it’s love, not politics – their passion for the same woman — that will tear them apart and force Marion to flee his homeland and make his way to America, finding refuge in his work at an underfunded, overcrowded New York City hospital. When the past catches up to him, wreaking havoc and destruction, Marion has to entrust his life to the two men he has trusted least in the world: the surgeon father who abandoned him …

The story is a riveting saga of twin brothers, Marion and Shiva Stone, born of a tragic union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and their father’s disappearance, and bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution.

But it’s love, not politics – their passion for the same woman — that will tear them apart and force Marion to flee his homeland and make his way to America, finding refuge in his work at an underfunded, overcrowded New York City hospital. When the past catches up to him, wreaking havoc and destruction, Marion has to entrust his life to the two men he has trusted least in the world: the surgeon father who abandoned him and the brother who betrayed him. (Source)

22 editions

airdog reviewed Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

Interesting story of how an African Indian ended up a very respected doctor in the US

3 stars

Written by a doctor, this book takes you to Addis Ababa in the early 60's and ends up there as well, not without a long stay in America.

The story certainly brings us out of the usual European or North Ameican settings. Very touching, although the story is claimed to be fictional, being written by a famous doctor, you cannot help but think that there might be quite a few autobiographic elements included. As many books written by technical experts, this one tends to lean heavely on sentimental lyricism but given the nature of the intrigue you easily forgive the author for it.