The Island of Missing Trees

Nine months after Ada is born, Defne begins working for the CMP again interviewing Greek and Turkish Cypriot immigrant families in London. Through these conversations, she notices how the oldest generation hangs on to their pain, the second tries to suppress the past completely, and the third is the most curious to learn more about it: “It was the youngest who seemed to have the oldest memory” (315). On one occasion, Defne visits a family along with another CMP colleague, and they are both treated extremely rudely by the son of an older survivor. Shaken, Defne and her colleague stop at a pub to get a drink—it is Defne’s first drink since her pregnancy, and as she sips it, she immediately feels a sense of relief. Defne gets home late that night and makes Kostas promise not to tell Ada about their past, as she does not want her daughter burdened by their pain. Kostas reluctantly agrees, even as he smells the alcohol on Defne’s breath and begins to worry.

The day before she is set to leave, Meryam inundates Ada with a barrage of domestic tips in a bid to be helpful, such as how to clean various surfaces. Meryam and Ada also discuss boys and sex, and Meryam warns Ada to stay away from boys at her age, as “right now they think of only one thing” (320). Ada argues that women and men desire sex equally, quoting examples from nature and asserting that Meryam is being unfair to women by asking them to sacrifice for and accommodate everyone else’s wishes. Meryam, however, believes that the rules for women among humans are different, especially if one does not want to end up old and alone like she has. Ada senses that her argument is threatening her aunt’s worldview, so, not wanting to unsettle her, she goes back to asking for more domestic tips.

Kostas works in his study, enjoying the peace after the storm and anticipating the arrival of spring soon, when he can unearth the fig tree again. Trees have always provided him with solace, though his feelings were always mixed with a sense of guilt about how he did not pay attention to human suffering above that of other creatures. However, Kostas truly believes that there should be no hierarchy of pain or rights between humans and other creatures. Although Defne disagreed with him, she had come to understand and respect his perspective over time.

Kostas remembers receiving the news of Defne’s death. He had been on a research trip in Australia that week, studying whether trees whose ancestors have experienced the trauma of fires responded differently when faced with that specific danger themselves. He had discovered that such arboreal descendants were, in fact, swifter to react to danger, indicating that trees may have some kind of memory that they pass on to their offspring. He tried to call both Ada and Defne, excited to share his findings, but they had been unreachable; later that night, however, a sobbing Ada had called him, and he immediately took the next flight to London. Kostas recognizes that he has been withdrawn this past year, and he is worried he has been failing Ada; though once very close, they have grown distant of late. He goes up to Ada’s room to announce that he has completed the book he has been working on and asks her to read it and tell him what she thinks.

Ada and Kostas discuss one of his theories about people and trees: the possibility of deducing a person’s character based on what they first notice about a tree. According to Kostas, people who notice the trunk first are those who seek order and stability; those who notice the branches desire freedom; those drawn to the roots need the security of culture and traditions. Kostas, Defne, and Meryam represent each of these groups respectively while Kostas believes that Ada’s curiosity sets her apart as someone who looks to connect all these parts of the tree.

The fig tree describes how there are different trees one can approach for every occasion: a golden oak to share something precious with, a sugar maple to express hurt and loneliness, a magnolia to dream about the future, a jacaranda or mimosa for inspiration, and so on. However, she believes that if one is looking for or has lost love, one must always come to a fig tree.

The evening after Meryam leaves, Ada asks Kostas to make her toasties like he used to. As Kostas cooks, Ada tells him that she does not mind if he chooses to remarry at some point. They talk about Defne’s death, and Ada recounts how the day Defne died she had stayed in her room the whole morning; Ada had not checked on her, not wanting to disturb her in case she was having one of her habitual withdrawn moods. Later in the afternoon when Ada checked on her, she found Defne lying unconscious on the carpet.

Ada feels angry and betrayed that her mother died the way she did—even though the coroner ruled Defne’s overdose as not a suicide, Ada believes that Defne’s behavior was a selfish choice that showed she did not care enough about Ada or Kostas. However, Kostas describes a phenomena called girdling that sometimes occurs with trees where a tree’s roots can encircle the base of its trunk underground and cut off its water and nutrient supply. He likens this to Defne’s condition: “She was blooming and thriving with your love, and […] mine, too, but underneath, something was strangling her—the past, the memories, the roots” (334).

On the first school day of the new year, Kostas drives an anxious Ada to school. He attempts to bolster her confidence by telling her about how blue jays imitate the call of hawks to scare off its enemies and feel braver, and though not entirely convinced, Ada thanks her father. On the way to the classroom, Ada is approached by Zafaar, a classmate of hers she has a crush on, who apologizes for having laughed at her during the incident, blushing throughout the conversation. Later, another classmate tells Ada that Zafaar has told some people he has a crush on a girl in their class, and Ada believes there’s a chance it could be her. When Mrs. Walcott comes in to collect everyone’s history homework, Ada turns hers in proudly. Meryam calls Ada later that evening and Ada tells her that her return to school went fine. Kostas has promised Ada to take her to Cyprus soon, and when Meryam asks her which side she will visit first, Ada responds, “I’ll come to the island […] I just want to meet islanders, like myself” (339).

Accompanied by illustrations, this chapter details the seven steps involved in unburying a fig tree when spring arrives, including locating and unearthing it, inspecting it for damage, standing it upright and packing soil tight around it, and finally welcoming it back with loving words.

The fig tree can feel the winter waning and spring approaching. As the story comes to a close, she warns the reader that she has not been an impartial narrator, and it is revealed that Defne has been narrating all along. Not yet ready to leave Ada and Kostas after her death, Defne’s spirit chose to settle in the fig tree to be close to her family; it is upon this metamorphosis that the fig tree suddenly found herself in love with Kostas. Defne likens herself to her mythological namesake, Daphne, who turned into a laurel tree when she rejected Apollo’s love; in contrast to her Greek counterpart, however, Defne “transmuted into a tree in order to hold on to love” (343). Now, she waits for her beloved Kostas to dig her up and pull her into his arms again when spring arrives once more.