The Island of Missing Trees

Elif Shafak's The Island of Missing Trees moves between Cyprus in 1974 and contemporary London. Teenagers Kostas, a Greek Christian, and Defne, a Turkish Muslim, meet secretly at a tavern in divided Nicosia as conflict intensifies around them. A fig tree growing inside the tavern becomes a witness to their relationship and to the violence that follows. Decades later, their daughter Ada lives in London and tries to understand a family history shaped by silence, migration, and loss. A cutting from the same fig tree links the two periods and provides another perspective on events. The novel explores memory, grief, identity, belonging, inherited trauma, and the relationship between people and the natural world.