Elif Shafak’s new novel The Island of Missing Trees is shared by The Book Fairies

No tree was safe from a free book as book fairies up and down the country shared Elif Shafak’s new novel!

What a delight for The Book Fairies to have such a beautiful book to hide! Elif was so excited to see all the activity throughout the day. Copies of The Island of Missing Trees were shared all around the UK, in trees, on carved benches, in public parks and beyond! We hope you enjoy reading a little more about this new book.

The Book Fairies share The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak in Wales — *The Book Fairies found incredible trees at which to leave copies of Elif Shafak’s new novel!*

About the book:

It is 1974 on the island of Cyprus. Two teenagers, from opposite sides of a divided land, meet at a tavern in the city they both call home. The tavern is the only place that Kostas, who is Greek and Christian, and Defne, who is Turkish and Muslim, can meet, in secret, hidden beneath the blackened beams from which hang garlands of garlic, chilli peppers and wild herbs. This is where one can find the best food in town, the best music, the best wine. But there is something else to the place: it makes one forget, even if for just a few hours, the world outside and its immoderate sorrows.

In the centre of the tavern, growing through a cavity in the roof, is a fig tree. This tree will witness their hushed, happy meetings, their silent, surreptitious departures; and the tree will be there when the war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to rubble, when the teenagers vanish and break apart.

Decades later in north London, sixteen-year-old Ada Kazantzakis has never visited the island where her parents were born. Desperate for answers, she seeks to untangle years of secrets, separation and silence. The only connection she has to the land of her ancestors is a Ficus Carica growing in the back garden of their home.

In The Island of Missing Trees, prizewinning author Elif Shafak brings us a rich, magical tale of belonging and identity, love and trauma, memory and amnesia, human-induced destruction of nature, and, finally, renewal.

The Book Fairies share The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak in Hampstead Heath

The Book Fairies share The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak in Cheshire

Books found!

We love hearing from people who have found the books we leave! Here are some from our activity around The Island of Missing Trees!

Not lucky enough to find one?

Do not worry – this gorgeous book is OUT NOW in all good bookshops! If you cannot get to a bookshop, you can still support indie shops by ordering your copy of The Island of Missing Trees from Bookshop.org.

Would you like to be a book fairy?

We would love for you to join us! All you need is your first set of official book fairy stickers and you can get started by hiding books in your neighbourhood and on your travels.