Synopses & Reviews
Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon. Orphaned by their mother's death and their father's disappearance, 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.
Moving from Addis Ababa to New York City and back again, Cutting for Stone is an unforgettable story of love and betrayal, medicine and ordinary miracles — and two brothers whose fates are forever intertwined.
Review
"An enormously impressive first novel. . . . Many physicians write eloquently about their work — Atul Gawande and Oliver Sacks come readily to mind — but Abraham Verghese may be the first to use his medical expertise to reconfigure a hallowed literary genre: the epic novel. [He] has written a riveting tale . . . while interweaving graphic physiological details and lots of shoptalk. . . . A powerful story of abandonment, betrayal, and redemptive (and destructive) love. . . . Page-turning." Nan Wiener, San Francisco Magazine
Review
"Cutting for Stone is nothing short of masterful — a riveting tale of love, medicine, and the complex dynamic of twin brothers. It is beautifully conceived and written. The settings are wonderfully pictorial. There is no doubt in my mind that Cutting for Stone will endure in the permanent literature of our time." Richard Selzer, surgeon and author of Letters to a Young Doctor
Review
"A grand, exquisitely drawn story of twin brothers that ranges from birth to death, and from Ethiopia to America. In Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese shows us with brilliance and passion where healing comes from, and how we move through suffering to embrace life. In the hands of this compassionate doctor/writer, the details are indelible: A wonderful book." Samuel Shem, author of The House of God and The Spirit of the Place
Review
"A winner. . . . Filled with mystical scenes and deeply felt characters. . . . Verghese is something of a magician as a novelist." USA Today
Review
"His intimate depiction of humanity makes your pulse race, your eyes tear, and your lungs exhale a satisfied sigh." Paula Bock, The Seattle Times
Review
"[R]ead it for the medical education. Or for the characters. Or for the action, or for the dynamics of an unhappy family. But do yourself a favor. Read it." Harry Levins, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Review
"At its best, the first novel from physician Verghese displays the virtues so evident in his bestselling and much-lauded memoirs." John Repp, Cleveland Plain-Dealer
Review
"Verghese writes beautifully. A great, sweeping novel." Anne Morris, Dallas Morning News
Review
"Magical . . . Vivid . . . Cutting for Stone kept me absorbed and enthralled all the way to India." Tina Brown, The Daily Beast
Review
"[A] fantastic evocation of the life of a pair of twins whose mother was a nun and father an English surgeon." William J. Cobb, Houston Chronicle
Review
"Verghese is a novelist revealing extraordinary skill. With Cutting for Stone, [he] proves his gift [and] shares with us a story that cuts into our hearts and burns into our minds. . . . This epic of family and love is told largely from the operating theater as surgeon and soul become one." Adera Causey, Chattanooga Free Press
Synopsis
Over One Million Copies Sold. National Bestseller.
Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon. Orphaned by their mother's death and their father's disappearance, 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.
Moving from Addis Ababa to New York City and back again, Cutting for Stone is an unforgettable story of love and betrayal, medicine and ordinary miracles--and two brothers whose fates are forever intertwined.
About the Author
Abraham Verghese is Professor and Senior Associate Chair for the Theory and Practice of Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He was the founding director of the Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, where he is now an adjunct professor. He is the author of My Own Country, a 1994 NBCC Finalist and a Time Best Book of the Year, and The Tennis Partner, a New York Times Notable Book. A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, he has published essays and short stories that have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, Granta, The Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere. He lives in Palo Alto, California.