The Island of Missing Trees

Kostas Kazantzakis is a Greek Christian Cypriot and Ada’s father. At the earliest point in his story, Kostas is a 17-year-old boy in love with Turkish Muslim Cypriot Defne. Out of fear that this taboo relationship will invite dire consequences for him, Kostas’s mother has him sent to London in 1974 just as tensions escalate between the Greeks and the Turks in Cyprus. However, Defne remains the love of Kostas’s life; he eventually returns to Cyprus in the early 2000s and reconnects with her. Upon their reconciliation, he realizes that he cannot leave Cyprus again without Defne by his side, and the couple marry and migrate to England together.

Even as a young boy, Kostas is sensitive, sentimental, and extremely empathetic to the conditions of all living creatures, sometimes even more toward plants and animals than his fellow humans. His love of nature and all its beings is what leads Kostas to his eventual profession as botanist and ecologist and what drives him to later bring back a cutting of the fig tree to London with him. His love for the fig tree, even more special because it represents both a part of home and new beginnings abroad, leads Defne’s spirit to take up residence within it upon her death.

Despite Kostas’s sentimental nature, he is equally cautious, reserved, and logical. Ada describes him to be an introvert, preferring the company of his plants and trees to that of people. In this manner Kostas is very different from his wife, Defne, who is far more outgoing and bolder. His love for Defne is the only thing that leads him to do otherwise impractical things—he accompanies her to the psychic Meryam finds, for instance, and even proposes marriage to her despite knowing that it will lead to estrangement from their families. In all other respects, Kostas approaches things with logic and reason; Meryam even warns Ada against telling her father about visiting the exorcist, as she knows Kostas will not approve.

Furthermore, by his own confession, Kostas desires security and stability in his life. His world is deeply shaken when Defne passes away, to the point where he drifts away from his daughter, with whom he used to be close. However, as time passes and he slowly begins to heal, he realizes that he has not been there for Ada as he ought to have been. Toward the end of the book, Kostas and Ada are seen beginning to repair their relationship, growing close once again. 

Defne is a Turkish Muslim woman from Cyprus, Kostas’s lover and eventual wife, and Ada’s mother. At the earliest point in her story, she is an 18-year-old girl in a taboo relationship with Kostas. From the outset, Defne is seen to be fiery and free-spirited, willing to risk her family’s wrath and displeasure by continuing a relationship with Kostas and making her more timid older sister cover for her. Defne is heartbroken when Kostas suddenly leaves for London in 1974, but just as it is for him, he remains the love of her life. When Kostas returns 25 years later, Defne reconciles with him, marrying him and moving to England to begin a new life.

Defne is an unconventional woman in many ways. She is brave and unafraid of risking social stigma and censure for the sake of love. Her relationship with Kostas is a risk from the very beginning; when she becomes pregnant, her love for her unborn child further overpowers her fear of social consequence, and she ultimately chooses to have the baby despite initially trying to have an abortion. Defne is also fiercely independent, choosing not to inform Kostas or ask for his help in her difficult condition. She is strong enough to invite her family’s wrath by telling them about the pregnancy and to build a life without them when she marries Kostas and leaves Cyprus, solidifying her estrangement from them in the process.

Despite her bravery and spiritedness, Defne carries a deep sense of melancholy within her, possibly caused by the myriad trauma she undergoes at a young age. Unlike Kostas, who left for London, Defne was still in Cyprus when the conflict reached a boiling point, and she suffered a great many losses in this time: from her uncle who dies from communal violence, which also sees her father injured and paralyzed, to heartbreak upon Kostas’s departure, the social stigma attached to her pregnancy, the grief of losing a child, and the guilt of having two close friends disappear while they were attempting to protect her. Defne’s past has an undeniable impact on her. On the one hand, she is seen searching for answers while still in Cyprus, choosing to become an archaeologist (a profession that is rooted in unearthing and making sense of the past) and going on to work with the CMP. Once she is in England, however, and confronted with the task of raising a new generation, Defne goes the other way, ensuring that her child is completely cut off from the past and the pain it brings. In this manner, Defne represents the second generation of those touched by conflict and trauma who are focused on suppressing the past. However, she finds herself unable to escape her own painful memories, succumbing to substance abuse and bouts of melancholy. Nevertheless, Defne’s love for her family finally outweighs her desire to move on from this world upon her death; she chooses to reside in the fig tree rather than move on to a different plane to continue to be close to her family.

Meryam is Defne’s older sister, the aunt whom Ada meets for the first time many months after Defne’s death. Bound by a promise made to their parents, Meryam is finally able to visit Kostas and Ada only upon Meryam and Defne’s mother’s death. Meryam is a recent divorcee.

As opposed to her free-spirited sister, Meryam is far more cautious and wary of the world. She is a fairly conventional woman, her identity rooted in her domesticity and her ability to carry out household tasks, such as cooking and cleaning, bringing her substantial joy. Meryam even attempts to impart some of this “womanly wisdom” to Ada in the short time she spends with her niece. However, it is also apparent that Meryam’s identity and idea of herself make her lonely, especially because of her recent divorce. Through conversations with Ada, it is seen that Meryam is unhappy and a little insecure at having to be alone at her age, even though she does not particularly miss her husband.

Meryam’s traditional bent is further enhanced by her deep faith and belief in superstitions and rituals. Ada, born and raised in London by an unconventional mother and a rational and scientifically inclined father, initially finds Meryam and her ways fairly old-fashioned and odd. However, as Meryam opens up about her past and her life, Ada comes to understand and have more empathy for her world view, even developing a closer relationship with her. Although Meryam leaves shortly after New Year’s, it is hinted that aunt and niece will continue to be in touch and maintain this newfound relationship, with Meryam calling Ada to chat about her return to school and making plans to show Ada around Cyprus when she visits.