On the Twentyfirst day of Advent

 "The Island of Missing Trees"

By Elif Shafak

Published by Penguin 🐧

This has to be one of the most powerful, emotive books I have read for a long time. A story told from two different perspectives, the human and the fig tree which; once you get used to the changing narration,draws you in ,entwining you in the roots and branches of love, fear, happiness and despair.

The compassionate and, yet at times, blunt way in which Elif develops the reader's understanding, and relationship with the characters and how they were affected by the Greek/ Turkish division in Cyprus at different times of their lives is expertly woven into this story of love and grief .

I will definitely be looking out for more of Elif's books to read in the near future.

Synopsis

In 1974, two teenagers, from opposite sides of a divided Cyprus, meet at a tavern in the city they both call home. The tavern is the only place that Kostas, who is Greek, and Define, who is Turkish, can meet in secret, hidden beneath the leaves if a fig tree growing through the roof of the tavern. This tree will witness their hushed, happy meetings, and will be there when the war breaks out and the teenagers vanish.

Decades later in north London, sixteen-year-old Ada has never visited the island where her parents were born. She seeks to untangle years of her family's silence, but the only connection she has to the land of her ancestors is a fig tree growing in the back garden of their home.......

Elif Shafak

Elif is an award- winning British Turkish novelist of nineteen books, twelve of which are novels. 'The Island of Missing Trees ' was a top ten Sunday Times bestseller and shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award. 

More information about Elif on her website;

www.elifshafak.com