I loved The Island of Missing Trees, readable and well-written historical fiction set in a time and place I knew nothing about.
In 1974, Turkey invaded the beautiful Greek island of Cyprus, leading to death, destruction and severed relationships. In this book, two main characters are secret teenage lovers---Greek Kostas and Cypriot Defne---and become separated by war and politics. Years later, Kostas returns to the island as a botanist studying native species, and finds Defne working there with archaeolgists to return missing persons to their families.
After all the intervening years, the two do not magically rekindle their lost love, but they do connect and find loving perspective on their accomplished lives. Ada, their daughter back in England, is the character who finds meaning in her parents' lives, and in the divided loyalties of her history.
The characters are lovely and believable; the large themes about love, war, and family are apparent and would be interesting to think about and discuss.
But I am leaving till last one of the most charming and important things about the book. Although the sections Kostas, Defne, and Ada narrate are clearly separated and labeled, a fourth narrator is a fig tree which grew in the taverna where the two lovers met secretly, and which Kostas has managed to bring back to England with him. The fig tree gives an ecological bent to the novel, but also unifies the whole story in ways you will not anticipate.
I thought this was a terrific book which I hope you may like and appreciate also. It has been chosen by Jenna's book club and well-reviewed in many places. I am grateful to Barb for recommending it to me.
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