Cutting for Stone
Ethiopia United States

Cutting for Stone

by Abraham Verghese

Family & Heritage Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Family Saga 2009

Summary

In 1950s Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, twin brothers Marion and Shiva Stone are born from a secret relationship between an Indian nun and a British surgeon at a mission hospital. Their mother dies during childbirth, and their father disappears, leaving the twins to be raised by two devoted doctors who become their adoptive parents. Growing up surrounded by the world of medicine, the brothers develop an extraordinary bond and a shared fascination with surgery.

But as Ethiopia approaches revolution, their lives become entangled in forbidden love, jealousy, and betrayal. A devastating rupture drives Marion into exile in the United States, where he must confront the past he has tried to escape. When circumstances eventually bring him back to the world of his childhood, he faces the people and choices that shaped his life—and discovers that healing some wounds requires more than surgical skill.

Spanning continents and decades, Cutting for Stone is an epic story of brotherhood, sacrifice, and the complicated ties between parents and children. Abraham Verghese combines the intimate drama of a family saga with the intricate world of medicine, exploring how love, loss, and the accidents of birth can shape a person’s destiny.

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Ethiopia
Africa
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About the author
Abraham Verghese
Abraham Verghese

Abraham Verghese is an Ethiopian-born American physician, professor, and novelist of Indian heritage. Born in Ethiopia to Indian parents, he studied medicine in India before moving to the United States, where he built a career in internal medicine and infectious diseases. His experiences caring for patients, particularly during the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, deeply influenced his writing and his belief in the importance of human connection in medicine. Verghese is a professor at Stanford University School of Medicine and a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Before publishing Cutting for Stone, he wrote two acclaimed memoirs, My Own Country (1994) and The Tennis Partner (1998), exploring medicine, illness, friendship, and loss. Published in 2009, Cutting for Stone became an international bestseller and was nominated for the Dublin Literary Award. In 2016, he received the National Humanities Medal for his contributions to medicine and the humanities.

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Details
Published
2009
Author
Abraham Verghese