title: Murida: Holding the Shadow of My Sister
author: Diya Mutasim M.D.
description: DIYA MUTASIM, M.D. was born in the Burj al-Barajneh refugee camp for Palestinians. He contracted polio when he was one year old, and had to re-learn how to walk. But with help from crutches and his large family, he managed to get through medical training in Beirut and then at Johns Hopkins University. He went on to become chair of the University of Cincinnatis dermatology department in 1998, a position he held until 2012, and has written dozens of journal articles as well as a ground-breaking medical work, Practical Skin Pathology. Hes also just published his first work of literary nonfiction, Murida, about his sisters struggle with breast cancer while living as a refugee in Dubai.
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  ![cover](resources/_cover_.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  # The Stepmother, A Drama in Five Acts
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Honore De Balzac
  
  
  This page formatted 2005 Munsey's.
  
  
  http://www.munseys.com
  
  ACT I
  
  
    
  SCENE FIRST
  
  
    
  SCENE SECOND
  
  
    
  SCENE THIRD
  
  
    
  SCENE FOURTH
  
  
    
  SCENE FIFTH
  
  
    
  SCENE SIXTH
  
  
    
  SCENE SEVENTH
  
  
    
  SCENE EIGHTH
  
  
    
  SCENE NINTH
  
  
  ACT II
  
  
    
  SCENE FIRST
  
  
    
  SCENE SECOND
  
  
    
  SCENE THIRD
  
  
    
  SCENE FOURTH
  
  
    
  SCENE FIFTH
  
  
    
  SCENE SIXTH
  
  
    
  SCENE SEVENTH
  
  
    
  SCENE EIGHTH
  
  
    
  SCENE NINTH
  
  
    
  SCENE TENTH
  
  
    
  SCENE ELEVENTH
  
  
    
  SCENE TWELFTH
  
  
    
  SCENE THIRTEENTH
  
  
  ACT III
  
  
    
  SCENE FIRST
  
  
    
  SCENE SECOND
  
  
    
  SCENE THIRD
  
  
    
  SCENE FOURTH
  
  
    
  SCENE FIFTH
  
  
    
  SCENE SIXTH
  
  
    
  SCENE SEVENTH
  
  
    
  SCENE EIGHTH
  
  
    
  SCENE NINTH
  
  
    
  SCENE TENTH
  
  
    
  SCENE ELEVENTH
  
  
    
  SCENE TWELFTH
  
  
    
  SCENE THIRTEENTH
  
  
    
  SCENE FOURTEENTH
  
  
    
  SCENE FIFTEENTH
  
  
  ACT IV
  
  
    
  SCENE FIRST
  
  
    
  SCENE SECOND
  
  
    
  SCENE THIRD
  
  
    
  SCENE FOURTH
  
  
    
  SCENE FIFTH
  
  
    
  SCENE SIXTH
  
  
  