The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak Paperback Book 9780241988725

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMENS PRIZE FOR FICTION 2022 THE TOP TEN SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER amp REESE WITHERSPOON BOOK CLUB PICKYou dont fall in love in Cyprus in the summer of 1974 Not here not now 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 Defne who is Turkish can meet in secret hidden beneath the leaves of 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 vanishDecades later in north London sixteenyearold Ada has never visited the island where her parents were born She seeks to untangle years of her familys silence but the only connection she has to the land of her ancestors Is a fig tree growing tin the garden of their home This book moved me to tears in the best way Powerful and poignant Reese WitherspoonA brilliant novel one that rings with Shafaks characteristic compassion Robert MacfarlaneThis is an enchanting compassionate and wise novel and storytelling at its most sublime Polly Samson ELIF SHAFAKS NEW NOVEL THERE ARE RIVERS IN THE SKY IS AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER NOW