SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2022 A REESE WITHERSPOON BOOK CLUB PICK SHORTLISTED FOR THE
COSTA NOVEL AWARD 2021A rich magical new novel from the Booker-shortlisted author of 10
Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World - now a top 10 Sunday Times bestseller Two teenagers
a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot meet at a taverna on the island they both call home. The
taverna is the only place that Kostas and Defne can meet in secret hidden beneath the
blackened beams from which hang garlands of garlic and chilli peppers creeping honeysuckle
and in the centre growing through a cavity in the roof a fig tree. The fig tree witnesses
their hushed happy meetings their silent surreptitious departures. The fig tree is there
too when war breaks out when the capital is reduced to ashes and rubble when the teenagers
vanish. Decades later Kostas returns - a botanist looking for native species - looking
really for Defne. The two lovers return to the taverna to take a clipping from the fig tree
and smuggle it into their suitcase bound for London. Years later the fig tree in the garden
is their daughter Ada's only knowledge of a home she has never visited as she seeks to
untangle years of secrets and silence and find her place in the world. The Island of Missing
Trees is a rich magical tale of belonging and identity love and trauma nature and renewal
from the Booker-shortlisted author of 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World. 'What a
wonderful read! This book moved me to tears... in the best way. Powerful and poignant' Reese
Witherspoon 'One of the best writers in the world today' Hanif Kureishi 'Shafak makes a new
home for us in words' Colum McCann
