Bloomsbury Publishing
The Island of Missing Trees: A Reese's Book Club Pick
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A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK
Winner of the 2022 BookTube Silver Medal in Fiction * Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction
"A wise novel of love and grief, roots and branches, displacement and home, faith and belief. Balm for our bruised times." -David Mitchell, author of Utopia Avenue
A rich, magical new novel on belonging and identity, love and trauma, nature and renewal, from the Booker-shortlisted author of 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World.
Two teenagers, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, meet at a taverna on the island they both call home. In the taverna, hidden beneath garlands of garlic, chili peppers and creeping honeysuckle, Kostas and Defne grow in their forbidden love for each other. A fig tree stretches through a cavity in the roof, and this tree bears witness to their hushed, happy meetings and eventually, to their silent, surreptitious departures. The tree is there when war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to ashes and rubble, and when the teenagers vanish. Decades later, Kostas returns. He is a botanist looking for native species, but really, he's searching for lost love.
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 and her complex identity as she seeks to untangle years of secrets to find her place in the world.
A moving, beautifully written, and delicately constructed story of love, division, transcendence, history, and eco-consciousness, The Island of Missing Trees is Elif Shafak's best work yet.
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Book Details
ISBN:
9781635578591
EAN:
9781635578591
Binding:
Hardcover
Pages:
368
Authors:
Elif Shafak
Publisher:
Bloomsbury Publishing
Published Date: 2021-02-11
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Can a tree or a kitchen be a character? That’s a question you will answer when you read this lovely book. Told from the perspective of many characters you will delight in all of them, human and otherwise. You won’t have to dig too deep to feel the emotions conveyed by all. A thoroughly enjoyable read.
This book was an unexpected find. The author brilliantly weaves together a tragic love story on a divided island full of its own tragedies. She is Turkish and he is Greek and the people on the island are at war. The story is full of complex characters, beautifully written prose, so stunning that some paragraphs need to be read over and over again. But the real storyteller is a Fig Tree! This book educated me about the horrific history of this tiny Mediterranean island, and is a book I shall never forget. I can’t wait to see what this authors writes next - a truly gifted writer.
This novel is very complex. It covers relationships, love grief, conflict, inter generational differences, nature and much more. I had a bit of difficulty getting into it. Briefly thought of abandoning it. But very glad that I read it. A book that I may read again.
Wow !! I really enjoyed this authors style of writing. I can’t wait to read more of their work. This a story of love, loss, war, family and truly history that shapes us.
The author magically blends a story of love with sorrow, while teaching us the evil that occurs when humans allow their religion & heritage to override our common humanity. Her prose paints gorgeous scenes but also unspeakable tragedy. Will recommend to all my friends.
