01461nam a22001817b 4500 20241002123320.0 241002b sa ||||| |||| 00| 1 eng d 9780241435007 pbk RDA OCLC E EF SHAF Shafak, Elif 189533 The island of missing trees by Elif Shafak London; Viking; 2021. 346 pages 24 cm 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. ddc BOOK 174 Sanet Schoeman 174 Sanet Schoeman 768335 768334 0 0 ddc 0 0 F SAKHL SAKHL FIC 2024-10-02 512.33 EF SHAF 33228031152032 2024-10-02 2024-10-02 BOOK