Cutting for Stone

Abraham Verghese

When a 'celibate' convent sister gives birth to twins the world order is shaken - just a little. I found myself trusting in the voice of the eldest twin as he tells us about how the long shadow of betrayal can compete with the warmth of an unusual extended family. Medical salvation is not always enough to soothe wounds as revolution rumbles behind this convincing coming-of-age story.

Extract

The smoke made sinuous shapes in the shaft of light leaking past the bathroom door. I remember our kitchen at Missing and how the dust motes dancing in the morning rays formed their own galaxy. When I was a child, that sight had hinted at the wonderful and frightening complexity of the universe, of how the closer one looked the more one saw revealed, and one's imagination was the only limit.

Parallels