Our No 1 in book club!  Cutting for Stone is simply a stunning, tremendous read and unanimously made it into the Den's Dozen.  Ask any one in the den (& beyond) and Cutting for Stone will always make the list.  

 

Following the life of two twin brothers Marion and Shiva born in Ethiopia, initially inseparable (literally) and abandoned by their British father after their Indian nun mother dies in childbirth, we are vividly immersed into their breath-taking story of growing up in Addis Ababa and beyond.  

 

Both brothers train in medicine and become surgeons and the art of medical practises inevitably runs through the core of this book, hence the title which refers to the surgical removal of kidney or bladder stones.  

 

The complexities of family relationships intimately portrayed through love, betrayal and separation against the backdrop of a country in strife and consequently civil war.  The observations on family and life are so poignant you want to write them down.  The story moves to the US, but it is the truly glowing images of Addis Ababa which abide in the memory.

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