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The Island of Missing Trees
- Narrated by: Daphne Kouma, Amira Ghazalla
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
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Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize 2022
A Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick.
A top 10 Sunday Times best seller.
Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2021.
A rich, magical new novel 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. 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.
The Island of Missing Trees is a rich, magical tale of belonging and identity, love and trauma, nature and renewal, from the Booker-shortlisted author of 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World.
Critic reviews
"What a wonderful read! This book moved me to tears...in the best way. Powerful and poignant." (Reese Witherspoon)
"One of the best writers in the world today." (Hanif Kureishi)
"Shafak makes a new home for us in words." (Colum McCann)
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What listeners say about The Island of Missing Trees
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- mbmagpie
- 07-03-22
Loved it!
Didn’t know much about Cypriot history. Fascinating and sad. Here a backdrop to a great novel! Characters fully formed. Story lovely. Alternating story tellers effective. Great performances by the 2 readers too!
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- Dani
- 16-09-21
What a delight!
Yet again elif shafak has transported me to another world, with her characters so beautifully created and expressed, this audio book has been a delight from start to finish,
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- Julia
- 14-01-23
Wonderful story
I enjoy books about nature and about history and I believe in novels though I don’t always like them… so this was a really good book for me. I learnt some stuff and enjoyed hearing a tree narrate. I agree a bit with the comments about narration, but after a while it didn’t matter at all and I enjoyed it.
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- Aleks
- 28-07-22
highly recommended
Loved the story! hope there will be part 2 - Ada in Cyprus! looking forward to reading other books from the author
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- MJH
- 17-07-22
I loved this book 😀
Despite quite a few negative reviews, I decided to listen to this audio book. I really enjoyed it. I liked the different voices, the accents were helpful to me and made it clear who was talking. The story was really interesting and made me want to learn more about Cyprus and its past. The fig tree was adorable and gave an insight into a possible life of flora and fauna.
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- Anonymous User
- 28-01-23
Interesting and relevant
It's an interesting and relevant story, told from both a present day teenager and from the view of her young parents in the 70's on Cyprus. I've heard that the accents of the narrators don't match Greek or Turkish accent, and I cannot judge this. All I can say is that I liked the performance of the narrators, for someone not in the accent-know it was enjoyable.
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- deborah jenkins
- 29-01-23
Cultural, insightful love story.
Intriguing love story, including the biology of a fig tree and the history of Cyprus and it's war. I loved the the everything was linked.
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- "helgi65"
- 09-05-23
Excellent performances and story
Lovely book at the outset and very much brought to life by the different voices and accents that the narrators used.
I hardly ever leave reviews but just wanted to thank everyone for giving me 11 hours of challenging, thought-provoking pleasure.
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- Mike Gregory
- 29-06-23
Excellent
Well researched, different and surprisingly not biased. Well done! Will read or listen to more of her books. I enjoyed the voices as it made it all more authentic.
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- K Walts
- 08-07-23
A beautiful story of modern history
The interweaving voices of the narrator, partly in the voice of the tree, was just superb. I have a strong connection to Cyprus, making this story all the more heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. Beautifully written and researched story of modern history.
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