The Island of Missing Trees
Author: Elif Shafak
Published by: Penguin Viking
Pages: 355
Format: Hardback
My Rating ★★★★
Published by: Penguin Viking
Pages: 355
Format: Hardback
My Rating ★★★★
Two teenagers, a Greek Cypriot, and a Turkish Cypriot, meet at a taverna on the island they both call home.
The taverna is the only place that Kostas and Defne can meet in secret, hidden beneath the blackened beams from which hang garlands of garlic and chilli peppers, creeping honeysuckle, and in the centre, growing through a cavity in the roof, a fig tree.
The fig tree witnesses their hushed, happy meetings; their silent, surreptitious departures. The fig tree is there, too, when war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to ashes and rubble, when the teenagers vanish.
Decades later, Kostas returns - a botanist, looking for native species - looking, really, for Defne. The two lovers return to the taverna to take a clipping from the fig tree and smuggle it into their suitcase, bound for London.
Years later, the fig tree in the garden is their daughter Ada's only knowledge of a home she has never visited, as she seeks to untangle years of secrets and silence and find her place in the world.
The taverna is the only place that Kostas and Defne can meet in secret, hidden beneath the blackened beams from which hang garlands of garlic and chilli peppers, creeping honeysuckle, and in the centre, growing through a cavity in the roof, a fig tree.
The fig tree witnesses their hushed, happy meetings; their silent, surreptitious departures. The fig tree is there, too, when war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to ashes and rubble, when the teenagers vanish.
Decades later, Kostas returns - a botanist, looking for native species - looking, really, for Defne. The two lovers return to the taverna to take a clipping from the fig tree and smuggle it into their suitcase, bound for London.
Years later, the fig tree in the garden is their daughter Ada's only knowledge of a home she has never visited, as she seeks to untangle years of secrets and silence and find her place in the world.
My thoughts:
The Island of Missing Trees charts the moving story of Kostas and Defne Kazantzakis, young lovers in a painfully divided postcolonial Cyprus – one Greek and Christian, the other Turkish and Muslim – and the emotional price they continue to pay after moving to England.
Set in 1974 Cyprus, the country is in turmoil between the two religious groups on the island. Despite the danger it presents, Kostas, a Greek Cypriot, and Defne, a Turkish Cypriot, are young and in love at a time when there is a lot of turmoil between the two groups living on the island. The only place safe for the two of them to meet is at a tavern called The Happy Fig. The Happy Fig gets its name from a fig tree planted in the centre. This tree remembers everything that goes on in the tavern. The tree remembers the lover’s secret meetings, war breaking out, and what came after.
Fast forward to present-day London, Ada is grieving the death of her mother. She feels that she can’t open up to Kostas, her father, because he is always buried in his work and talking to the fig tree in their backyard. Ada’s parents raised her in an English-speaking household and have never revealed much about their life in Cyprus. With the help of her visiting aunt, she begins to learn what her parents have left unsaid and discover her identity.
The characters were each very vivid and I really cared for them, especially Ada.
Elif Shafak’s book tells a multi-layered story with a dual timeline. It is told from the perspectives of Ada, Kostas, and the fig tree, beautifully written with a strong the sense of magical realism that I hadn’t expected. The blurb of course makes it clear that a tree is significant in this book, a fig tree that grows in the centre of a tavern and out through the roof. But it was so much more significant than that. I loved the way the story kept returning periodically to the viewpoints of the tree who has seen and heard so much throughout its lifetime.
The author even offers instruction on how keep fig trees safe during the cooler winter months of the northern hemisphere – you carefully bury them in the soil. This tree came from a cutting brought over by Kostas from Nicosia and planted in North London, where it observes the comings and goings of the people in the house and shares timely reflections on history and the nature of belonging.
The chapters are short, making this easy to fly through, even though I didn’t want it to end. I found it completely immersive and very heart warming.
The Island of Missing Trees is a magical tale of forbidden love, civil war, home, memories, secrets and untold stories. At the heart of it all is the ancient fig tree - it seemed an unusual device at first, to give the tree a voice on the page, but by the time I reached the final chapters, it seemed the most natural thing in the world, reminding us that humans are only ever part of the story.
Overall reaction:
The Island of Missing Trees charts the moving story of Kostas and Defne Kazantzakis, young lovers in a painfully divided postcolonial Cyprus – one Greek and Christian, the other Turkish and Muslim – and the emotional price they continue to pay after moving to England.
Set in 1974 Cyprus, the country is in turmoil between the two religious groups on the island. Despite the danger it presents, Kostas, a Greek Cypriot, and Defne, a Turkish Cypriot, are young and in love at a time when there is a lot of turmoil between the two groups living on the island. The only place safe for the two of them to meet is at a tavern called The Happy Fig. The Happy Fig gets its name from a fig tree planted in the centre. This tree remembers everything that goes on in the tavern. The tree remembers the lover’s secret meetings, war breaking out, and what came after.
Fast forward to present-day London, Ada is grieving the death of her mother. She feels that she can’t open up to Kostas, her father, because he is always buried in his work and talking to the fig tree in their backyard. Ada’s parents raised her in an English-speaking household and have never revealed much about their life in Cyprus. With the help of her visiting aunt, she begins to learn what her parents have left unsaid and discover her identity.
The characters were each very vivid and I really cared for them, especially Ada.
Elif Shafak’s book tells a multi-layered story with a dual timeline. It is told from the perspectives of Ada, Kostas, and the fig tree, beautifully written with a strong the sense of magical realism that I hadn’t expected. The blurb of course makes it clear that a tree is significant in this book, a fig tree that grows in the centre of a tavern and out through the roof. But it was so much more significant than that. I loved the way the story kept returning periodically to the viewpoints of the tree who has seen and heard so much throughout its lifetime.
The author even offers instruction on how keep fig trees safe during the cooler winter months of the northern hemisphere – you carefully bury them in the soil. This tree came from a cutting brought over by Kostas from Nicosia and planted in North London, where it observes the comings and goings of the people in the house and shares timely reflections on history and the nature of belonging.
The chapters are short, making this easy to fly through, even though I didn’t want it to end. I found it completely immersive and very heart warming.
The Island of Missing Trees is a magical tale of forbidden love, civil war, home, memories, secrets and untold stories. At the heart of it all is the ancient fig tree - it seemed an unusual device at first, to give the tree a voice on the page, but by the time I reached the final chapters, it seemed the most natural thing in the world, reminding us that humans are only ever part of the story.
Overall reaction:
