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.
This week's book is The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak and we'll be meeting at Ye Olde Cocke on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury — contact us for details.
