The Island of Missing Trees(99)
I came across the letter sent out to guests of Ledra Palace (published in the Observer on 15 September 1974) in Kenneth Morrison’s Sarajevo’s Holiday Inn on the Frontline of Politics and War.
In researching mosquitoes, one particular book that stayed with me was Timothy C. Winegard’s The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator.
For detailed instructions on how to bury a fig tree, visit https://www.instructables.com/Bury-a-Fig-Tree/
The comment about ‘optimism’ and ‘pessimism’ in plants was inspired by an article co-authored by Kouki Hikosaka, Yuko Yasumura, Onno Muller and Riichi Oguchi in Trees in a Changing Environment: Ecophysiology, Adaptation and Future Survival, edited by M. Tausz and N. Grulke. On the thought-provoking subject of epigenetic heredity and how memories can be passed down from one generation to the next, not only in plants but also in animals, see What a Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses by Daniel Chamovitz.
The section on humans not seeing trees was filmed at the TED Countdown on the climate crisis and ways to build a world with net zero greenhouse emissions.
For further reading on experiments with trees, visit https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110711164557.htm
For precious insight into the remarkable world of fig trees, see Mike Shanahan’s Gods, Wasps and Stranglers: The Secret History and Redemptive Future of Fig Trees. Figs: A Global History by David Sutton, The Cabaret of Plants by Richard Mabey and The Forest Unseen: A Year’s Watch in Nature by D. G. Haskell also provide great companion pieces. The title of one of Kostas’s books in the story was inspired by Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures.
So many things in this novel are based on historical facts and events, including the fate of Varosha/Famagusta, the mysterious deaths of British babies and the illegal hunting of songbirds … I also wanted to honour local folklore and oral traditions. But everything here is fiction – a mixture of wonder, dreams, love, sorrow and imagination.
Glossary
abla: older sister (Turkish) agori mou: my boy (Greek)
ambelopoulia: a dish of grilled, fried, pickled or boiled songbirds (Greek) ashkim: my love (Turkish)
ayip: shame (Turkish)
canim: my dear, my soul (Turkish) caravanserai: an inn with a central courtyard for travellers (from Persian karwan-sarai) chryso mou: my golden one (Greek) cigerimin k?sesi: the corner of my liver – term of affection (Turkish) hamam: bath (Turkish)
khataifi: a popular dessert (Greek; kadayif in Turkish) kapnistiri: incense burner (Greek) kardoula mou: my little heart (Greek) karidaki glyko: sweet walnut (Greek) karpuz: watermelon (Turkish) komboloi: worry beads (Greek) kourabiedes: a kind of shortbread biscuit (Greek; kurabiye in Turkish) levendi mou: my brave young man (Greek) lokum: Turkish delight
majnun: a crazy person (Arabic) mána: mother (Greek)
manti: small dumplings (traditional Turkish dish) ma’rifah: knowledge/inner knowledge (Arabic)
mati: evil eye (Greek)
melitzanaki glyko: preserve made of baby aubergines (Greek) meze (mezze, mazza): selection of appetizers served in parts of the Middle East, the Balkans, North Africa, Greece, Turkey and the Levant moro mou: my baby (Greek)
mou: my (Greek)
mugumo: a fig tree known as sacred to the Kikuyu community in Kenya nazar: evil eye (Turkish)
paidi mou: my child (Greek) palikari mou: my strong lad (Greek) pallikaria: strong young men (Greek)
pastelli: sesame bar, a snack (Greek) tespih: rosary (Turkish)
xematiasma: ritual to remove the evil eye curse (Greek) yassou: hello (Greek)
Prickly pear growing through wire fence on the border line in Nicosia, Cyprus. Photograph ? Constantine Markides
Acknowledgements
When I left Istanbul for the last time, many years ago now, I didn’t know I wouldn’t be going back. Had I known this, what would I have taken with me in my suitcase, I have since wondered. Would it have been a book of poems, a ceramic tile glazed in turquoise, a glass ornament, an empty conch shell carried by the waves, the cry of a seagull in the wind … Over time, I began to think I would love to have taken a tree with me, a Mediterranean tree with portable roots, and it was that image, that thought, that unlikely possibility, that shaped this story.
My immense gratitude to Mary Mount for her brilliant editorial guidance, sharp attention to detail and unwavering faith in literature. My heartfelt thanks to Isabel Wall, who has the gentlest way of empowering writers. I work with kind, loving and strong women at Viking, and for that I am truly grateful.
Jonny Geller, my wonderful agent, thank you for listening, always being there by my side, even when a story takes me through valleys of anxiety and rivers of depression. To the beautiful, hard-working souls at Curtis Brown, thank you.
Many thanks to Stephen Barber, a dear friend and a Renaissance soul – I learn so much from our conversations, from gardenias to molecular fossils. Much love and a big thank you to Lisa Babalis – how can I express my gratitude, se efharisto para poli, Lisa. My affectionate thanks and respect to Gülden Plümer Kü?ük, and her colleagues at the Committee on Missing Persons, for everything you have done to promote peace, reconciliation and coexistence.
Boundless thanks to Karen Whitlock, for your meticulous care and generosity of heart, what a joy and blessing to work with you. My appreciation to Donna Poppy, Chloe Davis, Elizabeth Filippouli, Hannah Sawyer, Lorna Owen, Sarah Coward and Ellie Smith, and also Anton Mueller, who, with his words and enthusiasm, continues to inspire me from the other side of the Atlantic.