Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
Two teenagers, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, meet at a taverna on the island they both call home. A fig tree stretches through a cavity in the roof of the taverna, and this tree bears witness to their hushed, happy meetings and, eventually, to their silent, surreptitious departures. Years later, a Ficus carica grows in the back garden of a house in London where Ada Kazantzakis lives. This tree is her only connection to an island she has never visited—her only connection to her family’s troubled history.
- Last updated: September 8, 2023
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