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

This book is a beautiful work of literary art.

This is a beautiful book. Beautiful story, beautiful writing, beautiful narration. Sometimes we buy a book and it might be missing one of those categories; this book has everything. When I read that the story spanned generations, I was hoping that it didn't go too far from one generation to the next. It doesn't. It's exactly right. Apparently there is a sequel. I'm not even sure whether I will read the sequel (if that's the case) because this story begins and ends so rightly. This story is sweeping in scope and moving in its message. I highly recommend it.

Enjoyable and inspiring, but often heartbreaking.

A great story about the struggle of life. I also learned much about Ethiopia. If you liked his more recent book “A Covenant of Water” you will also want to read/listen to “Cutting fir Stone”.

Epic story

What a great Listen it was never tiring full of humor Very well told story. Great performance by all.

Best read of this year!

I loved this book from the relationships to the descriptions of medical procedures I felt like I was on the observation deck or in the next room. Thank you Mr. Verghese for sharing your world.

Beautifully written & beautifully told. A book I will never forget!

The characters & the settings are so intricately described with such detail as to leave them unforgettable in your heart and soul. Read this book first and a few years later, listened to this outstanding narration. It was like hearing the story for the first time!

Wow!!!

This is the best book I've listened to all year. Thank you to Abraham Verghese for writing it and to Sunil Malhotra for bringing this amazing book to life.

A mehta

During my listening I felt like I was part of the family of Shiva and Marian ! I was drawn completely into it. What details! Excellent penmanship! What a sensitive writing! Too many hidden messages!

Quite Possibly one of the Best Reads Ever

I loved this book. So much of it has stuck with me day to day. If you're a doctor or a nurse, should definitely read this.

Excellent story’s

I had a hard time initially getting into this story. The names and places were a little confusing. However once I was into it a couple of hours I couldn’t stop listening. Touching and thought provoking narrative. Highly recommend it.

Love it!

Brilliant storyline. It gives you insight into how life just happens. Written with true wisdom.