This is an epic tale of love, grief, exile – and trees. Set in London and Cyprus between 1974 and the 2010s, it tells the story of the forbidden love between Turkish Defne and Greek Kostas on the island of Cyprus, an island torn apart by partition, and links the degradation of the birds and trees with the fate of the human protagonists. Defne and Kostas meet and fall in love in the 1960s just as terrorist attacks and civil unrest start to turn their two communities against each other. They have no choice but to escape to London, where 40 years later their daughter has to make her own emotional journey when she uncovers the trauma of her parents’ past. So far, so good. I enjoyed learning about the history of Cyprus and how it affected the Greeks and Turks who called the island their home, and I enjoyed learning about Cyprus’ ecology, particularly the destruction of the native forests, almost as tragic as the destruction of human lives. But what spoiled the book for me was the device of using an anthropomorphic fig tree as a narrator. This magic realist element simply irritated me. I could forgive the over-romanticisation of the central love affair, the introduction of implausibly “wise” aunt Meryem and her fondness for djinns and exorcists, frequent clichés and stilted dialogue, but the talking tree was one step too far.

Elif Shafak is such a brilliant writer and this book is one of her best. Beautiful, lyrical and rich. I never knew I'd love reading from a trees perspective before this book! Shafak's books always burst with life and this one is no different. Absolutely loved it and will be buying the hard back.

🌳𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗜 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸, 𝗜 𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘆🌳

Ada Kazantzakis, has a breakdown of unstoppable screaming in her class. Ada is sixteen years old, lives with her father, Kostas, who has just lost his wife, Defne. Both Korea's and Ada are living in grief but each of them are struggling to reach out to each other.
Ada has a lot of questions about their parents' past before they move to London; she never meets any of her relatives from Cyprus, until that day when her aunt, Meryem, visits them in London.
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The story sets in dual timeline of 1970's Cyprus and 2000's London, and it's so beautiful how the author uses a fig tree as one of the narrators and a focal point to weave the whole endings together.
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Have you read anything from @shafakelif? My first book of Elif Shafak was 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World; and I fell in love with her writing style.
This book is another proof that she's a master of story teller.

This book cast a kind of spell over me. Maybe it was the elements of magical realism, maybe the characters whose identities became clearer for their being remembered, maybe the many fibres of love woven together into the plot's tapestry. An unobtrusive spell, and one that felt like it might break at any point, but did not.

The story jumps off from a teenage girl, Ada, growing up in London, dealing with the problems and concerns of any 21st century teenager, She know little about her family, except that they are from Cyprus, an island riven by ethnic hatred and division. As she learns more about the suffering of her parents' homeland, she comes to a deeper understanding of herself.

What struck me most about this book (and indeed her other works I've read) was the incredible beauty of her writing about nature. Under her gaze, the natural world really takes on such immense detail, and is granted such variety of character. Her descriptions of song birds I thought were particularly magical (and indeed heart-wrenching).

So convincing was the almost anthropomorphic portrait of nature Shafak painted, that it seemed really obvious that nature should be conscious, should think, sense, love. Shafak has such a light touch with (what I suppose would be called) magical realism. I'm not usually a fan of elements of magical realism, but the sensitivity with which she introduces the sentience of the natural world made me accept it almost as given. I was delighted to hear that the author did indeed draw from Sheldrake's 'Entangled Life' in this regard. She doesn't get bogged down in trying to justify it. She makes the enormous creative horizon of her magical realism to sing.

One of the ideas I most enjoy thinking about is the interconnectedness of humans with each other and with the world around them. This book beautifully takes up this theme and plays with it in several variations. For example, the parallels she suggests between trees and humans. Trees typify the interconnectedness of their lives with those of others and the non-tree world. Drawing their nourishment from far and wide, their existence owing to pollenation by a passing bird or seed, or perhaps by being replanted from a vital shoot, trees do not differentiate between self and other, parent and child. They are products of their environment in quite a literal sense. Humans flatter themselves that they are discrete individuals, individual atoms of an inert gas bouncing around without ever forming connections.

The story of Ada powerfully demonstrates how much of an illusion this is.

If I were to be critical, I felt that this story lacked a little impetus around the middle of the book. I rushed through the beginning trying to work out how this magical book worked, and the beautiful narrative cadence of the final quarter was very compelling. The middle somehow lacked forward motion.

Having said this, not every piece of music needs to have a driving rhythm. Shafak's lyricism and symphonic writing style more than compensates for any deficiency in momentum. This book is perhaps more of an aria than a tarantella, but what a beautiful aria it is.

Another beautiful story from Elif Shafak. This is my second book from this author (the first one was [book:10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World|43706466]) and it hasn't changed my opinion of her at all.

Shafak can write. She develops stories about characters that we grow to care about, on topics are extremely relevant, and she does so using beautiful prose.

The story is told from two main points of view, one of them being... wait for it... a fig tree! I must admit at first I found it intriguing, then it put me off for a bit... Then it grew on me (no pun intended). However, the character that I loved was Ada, the daughter of two Cypriot immigrants in London. And I found her aunt Meryem hilarious. The two of them just bounced off each other in a way that reminded me of my own relationship with my aunt.

If you choose the audiobook, the two POVs are voiced by two different women, and they were excellent.

Definitely another must-read from Elif Shafak.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

Do you ever read a book that moves you so much, you're almost too scared to review it? There is no way I can do it justice. From Shafak's beautiful prose and the evocative writing to the stunning imagery, everything about this book is simply perfect.

One of the most surprising and frankly, genius aspects of this book is that it is, in part, narrated by a knowledgeable fig tree. With insightful snippets on Cypriot history, biology and botany as well as some justified critique on the short-sightedness of human behaviour, The Fig Tree gives us a fresh perspective on the story while reminding us of the connection between us and the natural world.

What makes The Island of Missing Trees even more moving is that a lot of the story is based on true events. It is a powerful and poignant story about love, loss, trauma, connection and religion. Put simply, it is a highly recommended must read.

A gigantic thank you to Netgalley and Penguin for my advance copy in return for my honest review

5/5.

This was my first book by Elif Shafak, though I’ve been meaning to read her novels for a while now. I’m so glad this one was the first I ended up reading because I loved this book so much and I’m excited to read everything else she’s written.

The Island of Missing Trees is historical fiction at its finest, with a focus on themes like memory and what you pass on to the next generations. This story deeply resonated with me because I feel like it’s a common experience among us humans, to feel like we are carrying a burden that has been in our DNA for generations, and being unable to identify it and to know where it came from. I could write paragraphs about the hereditary suffering, the intergenerational miscommunications, the shames and secrets carried to the grave, but honestly, the book does it way better than me. I’d rather talk a bit about the other aspects that make this novel quite unique and the other reasons you might love this book.

The story is told through the eyes of different characters in a non-linear way, going back and forth in time, though it’s never confusing and the events are pretty clear and easy to understand. At the very core of the novel we have Defne and Kostas, young lovers in 1970s Cyprus, and then we get a bunch of other characters who gravitate around them.

Kostas and Defne were two amazing characters, very different but equally fascinating, and their love story filled me with hope, even though it wasn’t always the happiest. I guess I’m a sucker for people loving each other no matter what, even when everything around them is trying to keep them away from each other. I loved that Ada was so obviously their daughter, as she had traits of both her parents and quirks that made her character really feel like the fruit of their love. I firmly believe that each of us carries bits of their ancestors with them and Ada, the teenage daughter, was such a great character with so much youth but also a depth that is rarely found in teenage characters.

A part of The Island of Missing Trees is narrated by a fig tree, which I wasn’t expecting but which gives it an emotional impact I wouldn’t have suspected. In literature and fiction, trees have a big history of being personified, made figures of memory and witnesses of the passing of time. Elif Shafak followed this tradition by creating a sensitive and fascinating character out of this fig tree, which gave the novel an even more universal and poetic strength, and made it so beautiful and entertaining to me. The tree was a main character in the book without a doubt and I was so interested in knowing more about it and what would happen to it!

The entire story has a special focus on nature, plants and animals, and on how all these creatures live around humans and are impacted by us. How they live with us and go through joys and tragedies with us, alongside us. The book felt like a celebration of life, all types of life, and of how interconnected all living things are!

I’d like to add that, though it’s not the most developed part of the story, there is beautiful LGBTQ representation in this novel. These characters were written with love and care and once again, I loved them so much.

This was a fast read for me but I grew very attached to the characters and their stories, related to them heavily and my heart aches a bit thinking of them. I’ll probably carry them with me for a while!

Highly recommend this book.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this eARC!!

content warnings: themes of war, death of a loved one, murder and mass murder, xenophobia and racism, bullying, ableism, alcoholism, drugs, homophobia, hate crime, animal death, mental illness, misogyny, self harm, corpses, abortion, cancer, mentions of physical abuse and rape.

Thanks NetGalley, Penguin General UK and the one and only Elif Shafak for an ARC to review.
Whenever a new book for her is published I'm so excited and couldn't wait to read, I was thrilled when approved to read an early copy.
I have no idea how does she get her writing ideas, she's so talented I can't get enough of her books.
Just go read it and you won't regret it.
I absolutely loved it.

Everyone has been hassling me to read an Elif Shafak book already. And when I saw this one, with the words magical realism mentioned somewhere in the marketing, I was like, woah this is my time to shine! This is it!

Unfortunately, this really wasn't my cup of tea. Did I set myself up with the highest expectations possible? Maybe? But maybe I didn't either, since there is some great stuff in this book.

- The writing is beautiful. Sort of on the floraly side, but not the Erin Morgenstern type of floral. A little bit less intense.
- I thought the narrating fig tree was an interesting touch, especially because her cheeky voice was used to deliver a lot of historical, geographical, biological information.
- The book obviously deals with several topics, some of them being: how war affects people, the connection immigrants have to their roots, loss of a parent...

I ended up not connecting to the characters as much, especially to Ada's character. It was overall a good book, and I can totally see someone loving every bit of this book, but I just didn't.

Thanks to he publisher and Netgalley for giving me a chance to read this one!

A beautiful Cypriot love story between a Turkish woman and Greek man at the of the separation of the island in 1974. It is well build-up and while one learns a lot about history, culture and nature of the island this never distracts from the narrative.

Yes, part of the book is told by a fig tree, but is there something wrong with that? At least it's an erudite tree, interested in history, biology, Mediterranean nature...and it overhears lots of interesting gossip.

4,5 rounded up. Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin for the advanced reading copy.

Just like Cyprus is divided in two parts (Turkish in the north and Greek in the south), so are my impressions about this book very polarized.



After reading 4 books by Elif Shafak, I can definitely say that, even though I incredibly respect the amount of research she does for her books, she’ll never be one of my favorite authors. I absolutely loved 10 minutes 38 seconds , The Three Daughters of Eve were just fine (3⭐️) and I DNF-ed The Forty Rules of Love. This book would be somewhere above The Three Daughters, but not even close to 10 minutes 38 seconds.



I gave this book 4⭐️ in the end.



What I liked:

the historical facts about Cyprus
the Cyprian traditions and food
interesting characters (especially Meryem!) (unfortunately not developed enough)
the love story (although it could have been more detailed)
thoughts about immigrants (people and plants)
the melancholy interwoven with a little bit of hope


What I didn’t like:

the fig tree as a narrator
too much facts about trees, bees, butterflies, ants, mosquitoes, birds… (this makes 50% of the book and feels like reading non-fiction or a biology textbook )
the first 40% of the book was really… not interesting
not enough depth in the characterization
writing style changing from lyrical in the first pages to scientific in parts about the nature


This book covers a lot of important topics, but the one it goes into depth with is a connection between a man and a nature (or the lack of it) and the side affects war leaves not only on people, but plants and animals too and it’s a very interesting point of view.



I have to be honest and admit that this book didn’t live up to my expectations (or the expectations a very good marketing for this book implanted in my head🤨).

The only thing I can guarantee you is that you will learn A LOT about fig trees after reading this book. 😉

My second Shafak novel (after the 2019 Booker nominated 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World), The Island of Missing Trees is a story of star-crossed lovers - one a Greek-Cypriot (Kostas), one a Turkish-Cypriot (Defne) - who meet in Cyprus as teenagers in 1974 in a taverna with a fig tree at its centre. Torn apart by the conflict, we meet their daughter, Ada, a teenager in contemporary London where she lives with her father. They have a fig tree which forms one of the narrators of the book, and the family's story is slowly revealed as the novel progresses.

The strength of Shafak's writing lies in the way she is able to evoke the culture and feel for the backdrop of her novels - I felt like I was there in Cyprus in the 1970s with the characters and I loved the descriptions of food. The contemporary timeline (Ada's) felt a bit less convincing, and the sections narrated by the fig tree were the weakest in my view; these parts were dry and often read as if they had been copied and pasted from the Wikipedia article on the Cyprus dispute.

If you enjoyed Shafak's last novel I think you'd find something to enjoy here - strong female characters within a specific (and well evoked) historical setting.

As usual she is a great author, so I can forgive her for having most of the story told by a fig tree, personally I didn't even like the Ents in The Lord of the Rings, so it's definitely my problem. Too bad I don't know the history of Cyprus and have never seen it, because I think I would have enjoyed the book even more, however another remarkable performance from Elif Shafak.

Come al solito lei é una grandissima autrice, per questo le posso perdonare il fatto di aver fatto raccontare la maggior parte della storia da un albero di fico, personalmente non mi piaceva manco Barbalbero ne Il signore degli anelli, quindi decisamente é un problema mio. Peccato non conoscere la storia di Cipro e non averla mai vista, perché credo avrei apprezzato il libro ancora di piú, comunque un'altra prestazione notevole di Elif Shafak.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

3.75

This is my first Elif Shafak novel, although I’ve been meaning to read her for a long time now. I thought I’d like it, and I did, but I think (hope) I like her other books even more.

I liked a lot how the book was written – I love when I learn something from books, there’s an abundance of information here but it fits into the story and never sounds like a lecture. And it’s true – although we know the island of Cyprus is separated, we don’t actually hear much about it and what it means for the islanders. Also, I like a dual timeline too, it keeps a bit of mystery alive.

However, there were a few things I wasn’t sure if I liked. The story, at least the human side, is quite simple and even trite in places – think Romeo and Juliet. And I just didn’t like the Ada character – or perhaps it was the way she was written. In fact, none of the humans were as rich as the tree.

The omniscient tree character has been a little controversial but without it the book would be nothing special. The fig tree is what pulls together the past and the present, Cyprus and England, nature and humans, as well as handily gives an insight into what is happening when the humans aren’t around. I liked it – that is until it started having conversations with mosquitos, ants and bees – then it all started to seem a bit Disney.

Most of all, I was left confused as to what it was all about. At first, I thought it was trauma – especially the inherited trauma of immigrants and displaced people, but later it seemed to become about nature and the harm that humans cause. It can be both, I suppose, I just prefer to have a clearer idea about things. With that in mind… I didn’t like the ending.

Conclusion: good, not great, but I’ll definitely read more.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin for this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for an ARC of this fabulous book. I'm a huge fan of Elif Shafak. She has an incredible talent for bringing a scene vividly to life in a way that evokes strong emotions in her readers and The Island of Missing Trees is a fine example of this. It's a beautiful story of two parts. In one half we have two lovers struggling to be together against the backdrop of a civil conflict between Greek and Turkish Cypriots in the 1960s. Defne and Kostas come from opposing sides of this conflict and the only place where they can meet with each other without either of their families finding out is a taverna in the middle of the island, run by another mixed Turkish/Greek couple. In the middle of this taverna grows a fig tree and when Defne and Kostas are eventually forced to leave Cyprus and move to London, they take a cutting from the fig tree and plant her in their new back garden. There, the fig tree continues to watch over them and, eventually, their daughter Ada. The other half of the novel picks up years down the line. Ada is a moody teenager, mourning the death of her mother and unsure how to relate to her distant father who has always been more comfortable with plants than people. An outburst at school and the sudden arrival of a figure from her parents' past leaves Ada desperately curious about Cyprus, an island that has shaped her life even though she has never been there. The novel is narrated in part by the fig tree which adds a wonderful sense of magic to a story about very real and very painful issues. The island of Cyprus is essentially a character in its own right and Shafak does a brilliant job of bringing her sights, smells, sounds and history to life for her reader. Ultimately The Island of Missing Trees is a thoughtful and heartfelt exploration of identity, belonging and the immigrant experience of adaption and survival.

Beautifully written. Elif Shafak conjures different worlds within her novels and has a particular gift for creating immersive settings.

The Island of Missing Trees has a beautiful message at its heart - that humanity and nature are interconnected and that, despite our differences, there is far more that unites us than divides us. Shafak's trademark wistful writing style is on display and adds to the beauty of the story overall.

We follow a young couple Kostas (a Greek Cypriot) and Defne (a Turkish Cypriot) who meet in 1974 on the island of Cyprus. Due to civil war and tribal conflicts, they know their union is something they have to keep secret and, eventually, circumstances force them apart. Decades later, they find each other again and decide to move to England. Although Defne and Kostas are able to reconnect, it is clear that old wounds remain, wounds which will go on to have devastating consequences for the future of their relationship.

In England, Kostas and Defne have a daughter - Ada - whose name means island echoing the island of Cyprus they left behind. When Ada gets a school assignment to interview a relative about a family heirloom, she poses questions that force her father and her aunt to revisit long buried memories some of which prove painful to bring back to the surface.

So far so good, however... a good chunk of the book is narrated by a fig tree. The tree provides the reader with historical context for the events of the novel and pulls the different narrative threads together. While the idea of a tree narrating a novel may appeal to some readers, unfortunately it really didn't work for to me. Reading about "conversations" the fig tree has with a parrot, a mosquito and a mouse (among other creatures) took me right out of the story .

If, unlike me, you are able to suspend your disbelief and enjoy this story for what it is, you will be rewarded with a touching and sweet tale with a satisfying conclusion. I loved Honour and 10 Minutes 38 Seconds In This Strange World by the same author so will definitely read more of Shafak's work but, unfortunately, The Island of Missing Trees isn't going to be one I count among my favourites.

I loved this spellbinding and hauntingly beautiful story of love, loss, grief and belonging. Cleverly incorporating ecological imperatives and peppered with insightful and atmospheric details of the folklore and tumultuous history of the island.

Set in a divided Cyprus, with teenage lovers separated by geography and religion, the owners of the Happy Fig tavern provide a place of safety for their forbidden love to flourish. The fig tree growing in the tavern, up through the centre of the roof, witnesses all and provides a fascinating perspective as the narrator.

Decades later, 16 year old Ada is growing up in London, with the fig tree in her garden somehow providing a connection to the land she has never visited.

#TheIslandofMissingTrees #NetGalley

Thanks to Penguin UK and NetGalley  for the Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World was one of my favourite books of 2019 so I was looking forward to seeing where Elif Shafak was going to go next.

The story takes place across two different timelines. In current day London and 1970s Cyprus. The 1970s storyline follows Kostas and Defne, a teenage Christian and Muslim couple forced to keep their romance hidden from their families. The current day storyline follows Ada, the sixteen year old daughter of Kostas and Defne and her journey to come to terms with her mother's death and the increasing emotional distance from her father.

This book yet again dabbles with elements of the supernatural but the main crux of the story is the conflict between Turkey and Greece and its lingering impact on the lives of those who suffered through the partition of Cyprus. I come from a Greek background and my knowledge of these events is sketchy even if I've always been aware of the antagonism running through Greek and Turkish relations. I met a Turkish guy at university who wouldn't even talk to me anymore once he found out about my family background so these are feelings that are still very much alive.

Key to this story is a fig tree. The tree grew through the middle of the tavern where Kostas and Defne met in secret and is later transported by Kostas to London where he fights valiantly to keep it alive through a winter storm. The tree functions as a character and we get little snippets of insight into what it is thinking and feeling. I know it sounds a little weird but somehow it totally works.

It's very rare for me to like both narratives in a dual narrative book but I equally enjoyed Kostas and Defne's love story and Ada's journey to uncover the truth about her parents' story. The events covered in this book by nature make some parts tough to read. and terribly sad, but I think Shafak had managed to do justice to a situation that continues to scar people to this day.

The little twist at the end was bittersweet without acting as some big gotcha for the whole book

At it's core this is really a book about love in all its forms, family, romantic, friends and those who have gone from the world. It's a story that will linger with me for a long time.

The Island of Missing Trees is set in a divided Cyprus where a young Greek Cypriot, Kostas, and a Turkish Cypriot, Defne meet and grow attached to each other. The only place they can meet safely in secret is in a taverna where a beautiful fig tree grows in the centre. The fig tree observes their secret meetings. Years later the fig tree is in a Garden in London, where it is the only thing their daughter Ada has of Cyprus.

This is the first novel I have read from Shafak, and she is a wonderful author who writes so beautifully and uniquely. I was unaware of the history of the Cyprus dispute and this novel provided me with some account of the troubling past there, even though fictional it is rooted in fact of communities torn apart. Although this book spans a long time period and shifts between them, this was never confusing or messy as I have found with novels previously. Everything was interconnected well, so you are able to grasp all the goings on.

The narration for the fig tree was a unique way to tell the story of the couple, as well as being a witness to war, devastation and loss. The owners of the taverna, Yusuf and Yiorgos, held a special place in my heart. They were so caring and compassionate for Kostas and Defne, and I am so glad they were a part of this novel. Shafak writes the character of Ada, and her teenage feelings well also, she is struggling with school as well as with grief, and secrets that have been kept from her.

Shafak explores the impacts of war and trauma in this book. Trauma from the communities that stayed in Cyprus, those that fled, as well as intergenerational trauma. This is all explored in a moving and beautiful way.