The Island of Missing Trees

A short snap shot of Cyprus and the wars between the different countries and religions who lived there. This story tells the tale of unacceptable love beautifully. Two young people who find each other but know their families would never agree to their love, their journey through separation, reconnection and finally being together. This story hurts your heart. How much loss and suffering people have gone through, in the name of war-it’s so sad.
This book is very unique as it holds two main viewpoints. That of the forbidden lovers and their families and that of a fig tree that witnessed everything. This voice of the fig is such a level Headed view - the history it has seen, the insight it has, is amazing. I’ve never thought of what the plants around us may think.
A really beautifully written book- a real insight in to Cyprus during a very painful time in history. I listened to this as an audio book and honestly feel the different voices really helped to bring the story to life. Such an interesting read.

This is probably one of my favourite books of the year and will definitely be recommending it to everyone . The story follows a family in London who originated from Cyprus and it’s also tells the story from a fig trees perspective. Stay with me. Sounds mad but it works! Especially in audio book form!

This book has everything . A love story, war, sadness, loss , lgtbq rep, history , family drama , mental health rep …

Read it. I honestly am so glad I did .

This book, set in different time periods from the 1970s to now is an amazing book. The story is set in Cyprus and in London and revolves around the turbulent history of the island. This novel gives a touching and moving account of an island tour apart by hate,religion,conflict, love and war.

In a London classroom we are introduced to Ada. She is set some homework by her teacher where she has to interview a relative and we learn that all of her relatives are in Cyprus. Then the story flips between Ada’s life now and her parents life then, and we learn about their roots and their history. A large part of this book is narrated by a fig tree. I did not really enjoy this. I did love the story though and learnt a lot about Cypriot history

The narration was excellent and I can’t fault the voice actors. But I do think I would have enjoyed this more had I read it instead. I think I would’ve been swept up in the story more. This happens frequently to me with literary fiction.

I have read three of Elif Shafak’s books and have enjoyed all 3. Shafak is an incredible writer and I look forward to more storytelling from this author.

This audiobook was so good, a mixture of contemporary and historical fiction. I learnt so much about Cyprus through this magical tale partly narrated by a fig tree!
I got caught up with the story of Kostas and Defne straight away and desperately wanted to know what happened to them in Cyprus as the civil war took hold of the island. I wanted to know how Kostas got to London and hoped I’d found out more through his daughter Ada’s story set in the 2010s.
This really was a fantastic book especially as the fig tree tells it’s story, and the story of Cyprus by the creatures it has met through the years. The twist at the end was perfect!
The narration by Daphne Kouma and Amira Ghazalla, both new-to-me narrators, was so good, making this a wonderful listening experience.
I haven’t read or listened to anything by Elif Shafak before but I’m definitely going to check out her back catalogue!
Highly recommended if you enjoy audiobooks told from a different perspective.

The Island of Missing Trees is an atmospheric novel that is split across a number of POVs and timelines, the most interesting of which is the narration of a fig tree that has lived since before our earliest timeline (1970s). The fig tree is what held this book together for me, it was full of brilliant information about trees and tree life and without it I would likely not have finished this book.

The other characters and even the story line did not feel developed enough and made everything appear quite surface level in what should have been an impactful story. Shafak is a beloved author and I will definitely keep an eye out for their next work.

With regards to the audio, I would have preferred the same narrator/voice actor to cover all POVs - the fig tree audio felt far more rich and fitting the tone of the work and would have suited for the entire book.