This is a beautiful book. Crafted with details that emotionally pull you into the lives of Defne, Kostas and Ad and the tragedies within Cyprus between the Greek and Turkish communities. This is story that is told in the present and the past leading the reader through the turmoil within a society and a love story that was fractured for over 25 years. The work of the Committee of Missing Persons showed how we all need closure from tragedy and how different generations regard the past. All of the key characters are fully formed and you yearn for them to find peace or a resolution .Auntie Meryem is a wonderful part of the story visiting Ada.
But beyond this narrative is a deeper story about the interaction between the natural world and human existence. Having read Sheldrake’s Entangled Life and Wohlleben’s Hidden Life of Trees, the realisation that the trees, insects and wildlife around us form part of a bigger tapestry intertwined with us is magically used within the book. This is no spoiler but after reading this book you will never regard the Fig tree in the same way again. Using nature as a narrative voice added a further dimension to the book and highlighted how we are losing touch with fundamental understandings of the earth that our ancestors respected. Elif Shafak is a brilliant writer and forms part of a group of global storytellers ( Allende, Marquez) who can weave the harsh realities of the life whilst adding a magical realism that has been the bedrock of narratives passed down through generations .

Any expectations I had for this book were exceeded. We all know how much I love Shafak’s writing (I really never shut up about my adoration for her prose) and this book is another I adore. Set in present London, and Cyprus in time past, it is a love story, both in the romantic and familial sense. Another important thing to note - one narrator is a fig tree. Yes, I know. But it WORKED. Not just worked, but worked brilliantly. At first I was very skeptical of reading a fig tree’s perspective, but it allowed the story to take different paths and make a very well rounded story. I loved this book and I definitely welled up at this book (thanks to a fig tree and a bumblebee!), it was just beautiful.

Thanks so much to Netgalley & Penguin Viking for this ARC!

Such an interesting idea to have the book part narrated by a fig tree!
It didn't always feel like it fully worked,but mostly it added something a bit different to the story.
Also interesting was the back drop of conflict in Cyprus,which I was aware of but not in any detail.
The story unfolds over three timelines at a decent pace,and the characters are well written.
I was a little frustrated that Ada had got to this point in her life not knowing a thing about her parents past.

A pleasant read,but I don't think it will be hugely memorable for me.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. Wow what a beautifully written story with wonderful characters. I loved it.

This is two love stories, the first between two youngsters, Defne and Kostas - one Turkish and one Greek, who fall in love on Cyprus and have subsequent Romeo and Juliet type issues as conflict grows on the island. The second is for Cyprus itself, its beauty and the place it holds as home to both Defne and Kostas as well as their daughter Ada, who is born in London but who nonetheless is subject to the pull of Cyprus at home.

The fight between Greeks and Turks for control of Cyprus forms one backdrop to this novel, the second is the story of teenage Ada, at school in north London and struggling to cope. The narration moves between 3 time periods - that of Ada, of Defne and Kostas in their 30s and when they met as teenagers. A fig tree is a first person narrator of some chapters, brought from Cyprus as a cutting when Defne and Kostas left which is symbolically buried at the beginning of the novel against the bitter London cold.

I like Shafak's work and enjoyed the book a lot, but I've deducted one star as sometimes the fig tree narrative felt a bit fey, and some of the descriptions of lost Cyprus rely heavily on descriptions of food and smells, which have become cliches in this sort of situation.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a review copy.