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Summary
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2022 A REESE WITHERSPOON BOOK CLUB PICK SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD 2021 A rich, magical novel from the Booker-shortlisted author of 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World - now a top ten Sunday Times bestseller It is 1974 on the island of Cyprus. Two teenagers, from opposite sides of a divided land, meet at a tavern in the city they both call home. The tavern is the only place that Kostas, who is Greek and Christian, and Defne, who is Turkish and Muslim, can meet, in secret, hidden beneath the blackened beams from which hang garlands of garlic, chilli peppers and wild herbs. This is where one can find the best food in town, the best music, the best wine. But there is something else to the place: it makes one forget, even if for just a few hours, the world outside and its immoderate sorrows. In the centre of the tavern, growing through a cavity in the roof, is a fig tree. This tree will witness their hushed, happy meetings, their silent, surreptitious departures; and the tree will be there when the war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to rubble, when the teenagers vanish and break apart. Decades later in north London, sixteen-year-old Ada Kazantzakis has never visited the island where her parents were born. Desperate for answers, she seeks to untangle years of secrets, separation and silence. The only connection she has to the land of her ancestors is a Ficus Carica growing in the back garden of their home. The Island of Missing Trees is a rich, magical tale of belonging and identity, love and trauma, nature, and, finally, renewal. 'This book moved me to tears . . . in the best way. Powerful and poignant' Reese Witherspoon 'A brilliant novel -- one that rings with Shafak's characteristic compassion' Robert Macfarlane 'This is an enchanting, compassionate and wise novel and storytelling at its most sublime' Polly Samson
Reviews and Comments
2 reviewsPage 333 - The tree was dying. I couldn't understand why. In the end, I grabbed a shovel and I began to dig. That is when I learned a lesson I have never forgotten. You see, the tree's roots were encircling the base of its trunk, choking off the flow of water and nutrients. Nobody had realized because it was invisible, below the soil surface...' 'I don't get it,' Said Ada. 'Its called girdling. There can be many reasons behind it. In this case, the chestnut was grown in a circular container before being planted out as a sapling. My point is, the tree was being strangled by its own roots. Because it was happening under the earth, it was undetectable. If the encircling roots are not found in time, they start putting lressure on the tree and it just becomes too much to bear.'
