I enjoyed this book so much that I absolutely HAD to purchase the hardbound novel as soon as it came out in stores. Not only did I adore the author's voice and writing style, but the cover is so so beautiful and I just had to have it on my shelf!!

Beautiful story. I loved the descriptions of the environment and of the sympathetic characters. This will stay with me for a long time

A beautifully crafted book retelling the forbidden love story of a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot from the divided city of Nicosia. Uniquely, half of the story is narrated by a fig tree which is the perfect plot device to link multiple timelines and geographical locations.
It’s hard to put into words how wonderful this novel is; nothing I say can do it justice so I’ll just say… read it, you (hopefully) won’t be disappointed.
Many thanks to the publisher for a review copy via NetGalley.

The Island of Missing Trees is a "wow!" book that wears how amazingly clever it is so lightly.

On one level, it is simply a gripping, page-turning story that features characters you care about facing remarkable challenges, with a touch of magical realism. At times, it is sad and difficult and I had to skim read (so I maybe didn't get the full emotional impact), but it is also hopeful and uplifting.

On another level, it is a stunning work of historical fiction that tells us so much about a conflict (on the island of Cyprus) about which many of us know so little. It is also a beautiful reflection on nature that even those of us who might initially have been deterred by "nature writing" will enjoy (when I heard that some chapters were narrated by a fig tree, I almost didn't read the book, but I'd have missed out!). I learnt so much without ever feeling like I was being taught since Elif Shafak's extensive research was so deftly woven into the plot.

Then, there are all the overarching themes: family, inheritance, grief, identity: this is a book that made me see things from a different perspective.

And, finally, there's the ending, which made me want to go back and read the whole thing again!

Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for a free advance copy of The Island of Missing Trees in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for providing me with an arc. I found the novel to be overall quite thoughtful and thought-provoking! I wasn’t sure this would be as good as it was and it exceeded my expectations. I am definitely looking forward to what this author is going to put our next! Thank you for providing me with an arc. I found the novel to be overall quite thoughtful and thought-provoking! I wasn’t sure this would be as good as it was and it exceeded my expectations. I am definitely looking forward to what this author is going to put our next!

The Island of Missing Trees is a magical , intricate beautiful book from the exceptionally talented Elif Shafak. Set in both London and Cyprus and told from several viewpoints and across multiple timelines , this is a story that encompasses many themes interwoven through a story of love.

In 1970s Cyprus two teenagers,a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot fall in love. The meet secretly in a tavern where a fig tree grows through the roof, the tree watches them fall in love and watches as the leave and is there when civil war tears the island apart.

In 2010s London a cutting from the same tree grows in a suburban garden where teenager Ada lives. The tree is the only connection to the island where her parents are from, a place she has never been and is rarely spoken of. Ada is struggling with grief and loss coupled with an element of her life splashed across social media.

The book tells the stories of the teenagers and the tree. It’s a story of love and war, of nature and of identity and a sense of belonging. It’s informative and mystical and thought provoking too. At several points , I found myself putting the book aside to find out more about Cyprus and it’s civil war , about bird migration patterns and ecology and I’ve spent more time looking at trees since I’ve read it.

I really enjoyed this one, the writing is so luscious and rich and all the different parts of the story bind together beautifully. It’s unlike anything else I’ve read.

Recommend.

4- 4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Island of Missing Trees is an example of great storytelling through writing.

An honest and beautiful novel that touches on family, racial divide, memories, loss, and nature.

Always a fan of Elif Shafak's writing and the words used to create beautiful stories.

Shafak... always a pleasure to read her! What a wonderful concept & wonderful execution.
Whimsical, lyrical and stunning.

Kostas and Defne's story is beautifully written love story torn across religious and political. Themes of memory, grief and family secrets are unwound as their daughter Ada learns of her parents history. Despite Shafak's Turkish heritage she doesn't favour one side of the Cypriot conflict over the other but instead exposes the tragedies on both sides with a compassion for human suffering and loss.
The use of a fig tree as a significant character could have gone so wrong in the hands of a lesser writer. These sections were a little distracting from the flow of the narrative especially when they delved into the science of trees, although ultimately Shafak was successful in tying together the different time frames, locations and characters. With the reveal at the end of this novel this device took on a satisfying dimension. I would recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys intelligent storytelling and I'm looking forward to discovering Shafak's earlier works.

1970s. A Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, both teenagers, fall in love in the midst of civil war. They meet secretly at the Happy Fig, a tavern which got its name thanks to the presence of a fig tree in the middle of it. When war comes to its worst, the two lovers are separated, only to meet again twenty years later, get married and run away to England together, but not before having taken a brunch of the fig tree with them. In England, they plant the tree, which has travelled with them from Cyprus and which will see their daughter Ava grow. Now, Ava is a teenager herself, she’s second-generation English and she misses her mam terribly, now that she has lost her to cancer. She knows almost nothing about her parents’ shared past in Cyprus, but the arrival of aunt Meryem from the island will make her reconsider her need to know more and to get in touch with her roots.

This is such a beautiful, wonderfully written book. I loved it from beginning to end. It’s original, profound and lyric at the same time. The main idea is that plants and animals suffer migration and war in the same way in which humans do, and that we need to rethink history according to these terms. There is a lot of talk going around on the topics of Anthropocene and “deep history”, and this novel is the literary response to the debate. And it is a masterpiece in itself.

•thanks to #netgalley and the publisher for the #ARC in exchange for an honest review•

Elif Shafak is one of my all-time favourite authors and this book encompassed everything I love about her work. The Island of Missing Trees is a layered novel that seamlessly weaves the lives of the protagonists against a political backdrop. The writing itself is hauntingly beautiful and makes for an exceptional reading experience.

This was a beautiful novel from Shafak, filled with wonder and emotion and it's definitely a book that will stay with me for a while. As always, the imagery and the feeling that Shafak evokes is like no other. A book I'll be buying as a gift for friends and family.

The Island of Missing Trees

You know that moment when attracted people look into each other’s eyes; when the tractor beam locks on and draws them together towards that inevitable immersive kiss? How irresistible love can be however taboo, from Romeo and Juliet to Fiddler on the Roof - however self disrupting. This love story is set in Cyprus’s turbulent years, Turks and Greeks in conflict.

Have you ever considered that it is not only human lives that are shattered by war, but also the land and its non human inhabitants? We take our ownership for granted.

This book provides an engaging story but also informs and educates- about history and nature.You will want to know more about those war years. A stand out feature for me, was the wonderfully delicious prose.

Enjoy.

This is the second book I've read by Elif Safak, and let me just tell you it is just as remarkable as the first. The Island of Missing Trees takes us back through time to follow the intensity of young love, the outbreak of war, the life of a fig tree, and the grief that comes with loss. It was enjoyable to have the lives of bees, of birds, of butterflies, and of different kinds of trees highlighted in the writing, and I enjoyed having a sense of life from the perspective of a trees. The story-telling is carefully crafted and beautiful. I felt the end (both surprising and touching) to be one of the most warming parts of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin General UK for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“Humans are strange that way, full of contradictions. It is as if they need to hate and exclude as much they need to love and embrace. Their hearts close tightly, then open at full stretch, only to clench again, like an undecided fist.“

Elif Shafak is an incredible storyteller. I liked some parts better than others, but overall I loved this book.

A beautiful book about so much, love, identity, trauma, memory and loss, friendship, migration, difference, food, nature, history, family, and much more.
Alternate chapters are narrated by a fig tree! And it works. The author tells the history of Cyprus using this tree and a family, Kostas a Greek Cypriot who falls in love with Defne, a Turkish Cypriot and their daughter Ada, living in London. Recently widowed, the novel begins with Kostas burying his fig tree in the garden to protect it from a storm and the winter. Ada at the same time has a traumatic moment at school. She’s an intriguing character, a teenager trying to come to terms with the death of her mother and the history of her family and the island she hasn’t been to. Her aunt Meryem visits and she is full of proverbial wisdom, many of them are great fun. So while there is much sadness in this novel there is also humour and tenderness. It is well written and constructed, revealing the traumatic and violent history of Cyprus that has probably been forgotten.

Set in 1974 Cyprus, when the country is in turmoil, this is a love story between a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot and their daughter in present day London.

This was my first novel by Elif Shafak and it definitely won’t be my last! This was beautiful, poignant and heart breaking. The writing was gorgeous and the discussion around the civil war was very sensitively handled.

I was initially unsure when I heard that this included writing from the perspective of a fig tree but it was done so well. I think in a less experienced writers hands it could have been gimmicky but Elif writes it beautifully.

I would recommend this to anyone who hasn’t yet read it and cannot believe I waited so long to try Shafak’s prose.

AD - This copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

“If families resemble trees, as they say, arborescent structures with entangled roots and individual branches jutting out at awkward angles, family traumas are like thick, translucent resin dripping from a cut in the bark. They trickle down generations." Elif Shafak

You will know by now that I'm a fan of Shafak's writing and this book did not disappoint. The Island of Missing Trees is set in Cyprus and London, in the 1970's and also more recent times and the story switches between these places and times. Shafak writes about the conflict in Cyprus between the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots- an area of history I had little knowledge of prior to reading this book. We meet Costas and Defne who fall in love, but are on opposite sides of a divided country. However, the most wonderful parts of this book in my opinion were the chapters written from the perspective of the fig tree.

The fig tree is witness to the love affair between Costas and Defne but is also there when war beaks out and also when the capital is reduced to ashes. The book is rich with information about trees, plants and animals- how they feel and communicate with each other- I can't even comprehend the amount of research that must have gone in to this story. Here's a passage from the fig trees chapter which I loved:

"Humans have always sensed there was something uncanny about me and my kind... In Judaism, sitting under a fig tree has long been associated with a deep, devout study of the Torah... The Prophet Mohammed said the fig was the one tree that he wished to see in paradise... It was while meditating under a Ficus religiosa that Buddha attained enlightenment.... and King David was fond of us."

There are various themes running through this book such as migration, nationalism, family, love in all its forms and of course nature. The writing is beautiful, prosaic and whimsical- you won't want this book to end- 5/5

Ada Kazantzakis has recently lost her mother, and her father is missing Cyprus. In their London garden lives a fig tree which is narrating its own memories of life in Cyprus. Interweaving this is the story of how Ada's mother and father, Kostas and Defne, fell in love. This novel encompasses these personal histories alongside that of the island of Cyprus. Shafak writes with her usual lyrical and beautiful style, making this an original and memorable novel.

elif shafak is a master at what they do! this new novel is no different from the previous work. i loved it, yet i still thought it was missing *something*. i founf myself bored here and there while reading even though i'm not sure if this is the book's fault or mine. i would highly recommend this to fans of elif shafak!

thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with the digital arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.