Cultural Dessert

‘The Island of Missing Trees’ by Elif Shafak

14 April 2023

I’ve never been to Cyprus, and my understanding of the history of the division of Cyprus could best be described as hazy. Reading Elif Shafak’s 2021 novel ‘The Island of Missing Trees’ has filled in a lot of gaps for me. It’s a beautifully written family saga, told mostly in flashback with the constant presence of a fig tree that spans the generations (and takes its turn as the narrator). When two teenagers - one Greek, one Turkish - fall for each other in Cyprus in 1974 they may have chosen the worst possible time to be star-crossed lovers. Seeing their story through the vantage point of modern-day London makes us assume we know what must have happened but Elif Shafak cleverly teases us with unexpected twists along the way. Though it has its own individual style, ‘The Island of Missing Trees’ felt a little like a mixture of ‘Captain Corelli's Mandolin’ by Louis de Bernières and ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’ by Amor Towles (reviewed here in September 2021) - showing us the passage of a tumultuous period of history through the personal tales of people caught up in it.

Labels: Books

posted by Robin Simpson @ 9:29 am