Hay Festival Book Club – The Island of Missing Trees
Elif Shafak talks to Gary Raymond
– Free Online
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.
The Island of Missing Trees is a rich, magical tale of belonging and identity, love and trauma, nature and renewal. It became a global bestseller on its release and was recently one of the most nominated titles for our recent Pleasure List campaign.
Join the conversation as we revisit this modern classic for this month.
Read it? Loved it? Let us know what you think over on our new Instagram page, @hayfestivalbookclub.
Further reading
I am drawn to the silenced – an interview with Elif Shafak, Booker Prize
Elif Shafak: Fiction as a bridge across divides in a fractured world, France 24
About the author
Elif Shafak is an award-winning British-Turkish novelist and storyteller. She has published 21 books, 13 of which are novels and her books have been translated into 58 languages. The Island of Missing Trees was a finalist for the Costa Award, British Book Awards, RSL Ondaatje Prize and Women’s Prize for Fiction and was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and RSL Ondaatje Prize; and was Blackwell’s Book of the Year. The Forty Rules of Love was chosen by BBC among the 100 Novels that Shaped Our World. There are Rivers in the Sky won the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award 2025, Prix Fragonard de Littérature étrangère, and was a finalist for the Prix Fémina Étranger and The Orwell Prize for Political Fiction.
ABOUT HAY FESTIVAL BOOK CLUB
Timeless titles to offer you a break from the day to day. Can't decide what to read next? Follow your curiosity and join Hay Festival on a journey to imagine the world anew through great literature. Unconstrained by genre or form these are our monthly picks of great books worth reading (or re-reading) right now.
Throughout the month, we'll share interesting links and articles relating to our selection on Instagram channel (@hayfestivalbookclub) and invite you all to get involved with your questions and comments. Each selection will also be marked with a free online event.
If you'd like to recommend a book for consideration, get in touch via bookclub@hayfestival.org.
Happy reading!
Supported by Unwin Charitable Trust
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The Island of Missing Trees
In 1974, two teenagers, from opposite sides of a divided Cyprus, meet at a tavern in the city they both call home. The tavern is the only place that Kostas, who is Greek, and Defne who is Turkish, can meet in secret, hidden beneath the leaves of a fig tree growing through the roof of the tavern. This tree will witness their hushed happy meetings, and will be there when the war breaks out and the teenagers vanish.
Decades later in north London, sixteen-year-old Ada has never visited the island where her parents were born. She seeks to untangle years of her family's silence, but the only connection she has to the land of her ancestors Is a fig tree growing tin the garden of their home . . .
