The Island of Missing Trees - by Elif Shafak

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  Book jacket

I picked this book up at Borzoi Books while in Stow on the Wold, England, during a three- month trip to the UK.  The Island of Missing Trees, by Elif Shafak is broken into three sections: London in the 2010s, Cyprus in 1974, and through the eyes of a Fig tree.  It may sound a little like fantasy, but it is actually historical fiction.

The story is about a family, a pair of young lovers, and a Fig tree that plays a big role in both stories.  Defne and Kostas were both born and raised in Cyprus.  Defne is Turkish, while Kostas is Greek.  For years the Greeks and the Turks lived peacefully side by side, however, in the 1970s hostilities broke out and a civil war ensued.

The two young people escaped from their homes at night and met at a cafe called the Happy Fig, run by two men.  The men were like the young lovers, with one being a Turk and the other a Greek. However, they shared no animosity for each other even as the tensions rose around them.

The story moves to the 2010s, where the young couple eventually lived and were raising a daughter.  When tragedy struck the family, and their 16 year old daughter Ada started to ask questions about her family history, a lot of painful history started to come out.

I admit I knew nothing about the division of Cyprus before I started reading this book, and I look forward to learning more about this period of unrest to understand it more fully.

Filled with love, sadness, and a healthy dose of information about caring for Figs and other trees, The Island of Missing Trees is a worthwhile book to either read or listen to while driving on travel.