SciFi-Fantasy: "The Island of Missing Trees" by Elif Shafak

A rich, magical new book on belonging and identity, love and trauma, nature and renewal, from the Booker shortlisted author of 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World.

Two teenagers, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, meet at a taverna on the island they both call home. In the taverna, hidden beneath garlands of garlic, chili peppers and creeping honeysuckle, Kostas and Defne grow in their forbidden love for each other. A fig tree stretches through a cavity in the roof, and this tree bears witness to their hushed, happy meetings and eventually, to their silent, surreptitious departures. The tree is there when war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to ashes and rubble, and when the teenagers vanish. Decades later, Kostas returns. He is a botanist looking for native species, but really, he’s searching for lost love.

Years later a Ficus carica grows in the back garden of a house in London where Ada Kazantzakis lives. This tree is her only connection to an island she has never visited -- her only connection to her family’s troubled history and her complex identity as she seeks to untangle years of secrets to find her place in the world.

A moving, beautifully written and delicately constructed story of love, division, transcendence, history and eco-consciousness, The Island of Missing Trees is Elif Shafak’s best work yet.

** The event takes place in the Library of the Regenbogenhaus, which is open from 15h00-19h00 on Wednesdays. You're welcome to visit the library, before the book discussion in the House of Colour **

** Reminder: The Sci-Fi & Fantasy books group meets monthly, and has a limit of 12 persons (due to venue size at the Regenbogenhaus).
The Sci-Fi Fantasy group has a Whatsapp Group chat, and Excel sheet for suggesting and voting on books to read.

Suggest books and vote here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1M23Vst0aClZS5SOZN-CGDcaQRsQtO8_h18l7xChf1no/edit?gid=966314652#gid=966314652