The novel begins with the story of an island that experiences a catastrophe. Two teenagers, Kostas\u2014a Greek Cypriot and Defne\u2014a Turkish Cypriot, meet at a tavern and fall in love, which was forbidden at the time due to their political conflicts. The main witness to their passionate love is a simple fig tree inside the tavern that later on also watches their surreptitious departures. The tree also bears the partition of two lovers, the hushed meetings, the loss of beloveds, and the enormous trauma of those who lost their families. Yet, one day, when it almost dies, Kosta decides to take a piece of its branch and grow it in a new land\u2014London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The story gives a unique perspective on grief, memory and healing\u2014how a tree silently witnesses stories of human pain and perseverance, adding depth and a touch of magical realism to the narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cthat is what migrations and relocations do to us: when you leave your home for unknown shores, you don\u2019t simply carry on as before; a part of you dies inside so that another part can start all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The fig tree then witnesses the lives of those it had always loved and those who came after its bloom. The author’s exploration of themes of preserving both human and ecological histories, the interconnectedness of life forms, and how the natural world reflects human struggles and healing is commendable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou don’t share a language, you think, and then you realise, grief is a language. We understand each other, people with troubled pasts.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The story bridges the gap between the silence of the former generation (after the war) and the courage and fearlessness of the younger generation to question. <\/p>\n\n\n\n FIVE STARS to the read!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Elif Shafak\u2019s The Island of Missing Trees is a mesmerizing tapestry of love, loss, and resilience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,20],"tags":[26,94,90,12,91,93,39,92],"class_list":["post-780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-book-review","tag-bookreview","tag-cypress","tag-elif-shafak","tag-history","tag-immigration","tag-literary","tag-literaryfiction","tag-parenthood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samreenahsan.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samreenahsan.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samreenahsan.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samreenahsan.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samreenahsan.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.samreenahsan.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":786,"href":"https:\/\/www.samreenahsan.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780\/revisions\/786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samreenahsan.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samreenahsan.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samreenahsan.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samreenahsan.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/aqua-raccoon-458846.hostingersite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/IMG_8597-1-scaled.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n
\n