The island of missing trees

“One of the characters, a Cypriot aunt, talks about the tourists that visit the Mediterranean, and she says about how they go for sun and sea and fried calamari, but they don’t want the history – that’s too depressing. Well, with Elif Shafak’s book, you get it all.

You get Cyprus’ sunshine, sea, and beauty, but you also get its trauma and ugliness. The book begins with a synopsis; it talks of this ancient land of legend and light that, in the 1970s, was torn apart by ethnic violence and ultimately partitioned into the Greek Cypriot south and the Turkish Cypriot north. It’s really important that tourists have some grasp of this when they visit.

I loved being transported back to sunny Cyprus, but I more enjoyed finding out about the island’s emotional heart.”