Is it possible to fall in love with a tree?

"Legends are there to tell us what history has forgotten."

This is a gorgeous story. Shafak is now an auto-buy author for me.

"The past is a dark, distorted mirror. You look at it, you only see your own pain. There is no room in there for someone else's."

Set in Cypress during the 1970s and England present day, this love story between a Turkish woman and a Greek man unfolds during a time of civil war. As much a tale of survival and perseverance as a censure of the human cost incurred by mankind's struggle for power, Shafak takes it a layer deeper by diving into the point of view of a fig tree.

And what a tree she is. Sensitive and astute, the tree explores how the interconnectedness of the natural world intersects with the people around her. Nature pays quite a price for hosting humanity's mayhem.

Much like in The Overstory, Shafak uses the tree to provide a comprehensive history far surpassing the finite confines of human knowledge. And the present day story is a beautiful coming of age about a girl struggling against the unspoken generational burden of war and loss to define what's truly important to who she is today.

"When you leave your home for unknown shores you don't simply carry on as before. A part of you dies inside so that another part can start all over again."

This is just a fantastic book. If you haven't read it, read it. And Aunt Miriam and her sayings were solid gold.

"Good advice is always annoying and bad advice never is."

"If you weep for all the sorrows in this world, in the end you will have no eyes."