Summer of Sisterhood: Cutting for Stone Reading Guide

Cutting for Stone made a splash with readers when it came out in 2009. Not only is is a fantastic read, propelling it to bestseller lists all over, but the topic of the novel hits close to home for us. The story all begins with a maternal death in Ethiopia and tracks the impact that that death had on those left behind—the children, the partners, the friends. Ethiopia continues to be a country of focus for the maternal health community because it is one of the highest burden countries for maternal death and also for life-altering maternal morbidities such as fistula. In 2010, there were 9000 maternal deaths in Ethiopia, leaving women with a 1 in 67 lifetime risk of dying in childbirth. This is a vast improvement in fact- in 1990 there were 950 deaths per 100,000 live births but that number has now dropped to just 350 per 100,000. It's still 350 too many.

We've linked to the readers' guide provided by Abraham Verghese on his website here to help you frame the book. It's a wonderful read- we hope you enjoy it and would love to hear your thoughts.

For more info on the author, Abraham Verghese, click here.