Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese

In a Ethiopian hospital called Missing by locals mispronouncing Mission, twin boys are born in secret to a nun and a surgeon. The boys, Shiva and Marion, are orphaned by their mother's death and their father's disappearance. They are adopted by two doctors at the hospital and grow up there. The doctors take care of the boys out of a sense of duty but soon fall in love and create a family. Marion narrates the story of their childhood and his flight from political turmoil in Ethiopia and family betrayal. This is such an outstanding and well written book, I can't wait to read what he writes next. -JM

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, 667 pages; Knopf, 2009.

5 olives