Cutting for Stone

A Novel

By: Abraham Verghese

Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra

Length: 23 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the author of The Covenant of Water: A beautifully written, page-turning family saga of Ethiopia and America, doctors and patients, exile and home. • “Filled with mystical scenes and deeply felt characters.... Verghese is something of a magician as a novelist.” —USA Today

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.

This sweeping, emotionally riveting novel that "shows how history and landscape and accidents of birth conspire to create the story of a single life" (Los Angeles Times).

©2009 Abraham Verghese (P)2009 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Abraham Verghese is a doctor, an accomplished memoirist and, as he proves in Cutting for Stone, something of a magician as a novelist. This sprawling, 50-year epic begins with a touch of alchemy: the birth of conjoined twins to an Indian nun in an Ethiopian hospital in 1954. The likely father, a British surgeon, flees upon the mother’s death, and the (now separated) baby boys are adopted by a loving Indian couple who run the hospital. Filled with mystical scenes and deeply felt characters–and opening a fascinating window onto the Third World–Cutting for Stone is an underdog and a winner. Shades of Slumdog Millionaire.”–Jocelyn McClurg, USA Today

“A novel set in Africa bears a heavy burden. The author must bring the continent home to help the reader sit in a chair and imagine vast, ancient, sorrowful, beautiful Africa. In the last decade I’ve read books narrated by characters homesick for Africa; books by or about child soldiers; books about politics; books full of splintering history.... Lush and exotic . . . richly written.”–Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times

“Any doubts you might harbor about a 534-page first novel by a physician in his 50s will be allayed in the first few pages of this marvelous book. Abraham Verghese has written two graceful memoirs, but Cutting for Stone, his wildly imaginative fictional debut, is looser, bigger, even better.... The doctor in him sees the luminous beauty of the physician’s calling; the artist recognizes that there remain wounds no surgeon can men. ‘Where silk and steel fail, story must succeed,’ Marion muses. This one does.”–Jennifer Reese, Entertainment Weekly; Grade: A

wonderful

am amazing story teller. I will always cherish this book. thank you for the 2nd book

Loved this book!

Very well written- characters are nicely developed & the story quickly captured my attention. A great book.

What a treasure!

I have had this book since it was first published and just now read it. Oh my goodness what a treasure. And as a retired healthcare executive, I think every physician and especially surgeons should read this. Rarely have I been so captured by a book and its characters. I know these people. And the narration was exquisite……Bravo!

Extraordinary storytelling!

The story is so immersive, you are there with the characters sharing their everyday life. I learned more anatomy and general surgery from this book that I did at medical school! Highly recommended.

Wonderful book and narrator

How did I miss reading this book in 2009? May be fate as my life experiences since 2009 made this read even more meaningful. I only discovered this book when I saw a new book, a sequel by this same author has recently been released. The characters and story are unforgettable. The medical aspects, culture , political and geographical references are all so interesting. I can’t wait to read/listen to A Covenant of Water next. Hoping this sequel also involves this book’s main character, Marion Stone.

This is my new favorite audiobook

Wow. What an incredible novel! The writing is beautiful, the characters rich and complex, and the storyline captivating. The narrator did a fantastic job and his ability to do accents from England, India, Ethiopia, and NYC was impressive. I just loved this book and felt completely immersed in the locations where it takes place. It’s one of those books that’s hard to say goodbye to when you’re done.

WOW!

I got this book because the authors other book, Covent of Water was spectacular.
If I hadn't read that book 1st I would have given up on this book by chapter 3.

I am so very glad I forced myself to stay with this book.
It is confusing and I was lost for the first few chapters, but then it picks up and you learn who is who ... AND THEN .... It is a captivation of a beautiful story. A story that makes you think about the footprint you will leave on this Earth. Shows you how even the worst of times have and serve a purpose.

Wow!

I read A LOT! I’m forever in search of that book that will move me, make me remember it, make me stay up waaay too late because I can’t get enough. There are very few, but this is one! The ONE! The author articulates so beautifully that you’re moved, feeling exactly like the characters do! Wow!

Held my interest for the whole time.

I wanted to read this first before enjoying the new one. Can’t wait to hear it.

Vividly transports you around the globe and into the world of medicine

Excellent narration of a very deep dive into the mid-century world of Ethiopia and doctors who practiced there