The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

“To immigrants and exiles everywhere, the uprooted, the re-rooted, the rootless, And to the trees we left behind, rooted in our memories”

Elif Shafak weaves a story that goes beyond the concept of beauty & ugliness, flaws and perfection, here and now. She brings to the world, yet again, a thought-provoking story that will make the reader ponder about social conflicts, changing relationships and its impact on discovering identify.

A story that will state in a million ways that what flows through generations, are not just values & beliefs, but trauma & suffering, what passes on through a generation to another is more than just a set of genes, it encompasses the unanswered questions, that leaves us in the state of confusion, with a question in our lap, “Who we really are?”

In the summer of 1974, Kostas & Defne, two teenagers in love, inhabit the island of Cyprus. But that is not how the islanders see them. When they see Kostas, they see a Greek Christian & Defne, as a Turkish Muslim, who dare not mistake to be romantically involved with each other. The quest of love & longing made them find refuge in a Tavern, for their secret meetings. Among trees, extravaganza food servings, beneath the garlands of garlic & peppers, their love blossomed and eventually changed the course of their lives.

“You don’t fall in love in the midst of a civil war, when you’re hemmed in by carnage and by hatred on all sides . . . And yet there they were.”

Meet a Fig Tree, who is observing the fate of love & life in Cyprus & continues to narrate the story as she follows Kostas & Defne to London, when they flee to start a new life.

In London, 2010s, lives Ada, a confused schoolgirl, dealing with the loss of her mother & her distant dad, struggling with her adolescent years & the challenges that comes with it.

When Meryem, Ada’s aunt pays a visit to her she brings with her answers to their past that Ada had been craving for a long time, with grief tagging along.

These characters will take you through ages, across wars, from the lens of varied perspectives, (of humans, trees, animals, insects) towards the mysteries of identity and love. Ada is trying to understand her roots and the secrets that the past reveals, makes her understand her scars but not treat them.

Serving as a metaphor, the Fig, stood for all the things we silently consume but can do nothing about them, all the feelings that have nowhere to go, all the words that find no way out. But maybe in a way that a tree does, we emote them through ways only understandable to us?

This book will acquaint you to the world of trees and their comprehension of the world of humans. It describes how lovely trees are, and how less they are loved by us, just like some people, who don’t appeal to the eye.

Moreover, this tale is about refugees, for refugees and how some become immigrants in their cities overnight due to changes beyond their control. The swiftness through which human relations change is painfully depicted by Shafak’s words. Of identity, friendships, betrayal, love & unusual connections, these 350 odd pages will break your heart and try to stitch it back together.

Penned Down by Bibliophiliaan- Simran Nasir