Elif Shafak is the author of twelve critically acclaimed novels, including ‘The Sultan’s Architect’, ‘The Bastard of Istanbul’, ‘Three Daughters of Eve’, and ’10 Minutes and 38 Seconds in This Strange World. “. Her work, for which she received the decoration of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, is translated all over the world. She campaigns for women’s rights, and regularly collaborates with international newspapers such as The New York Times, The Guardian and La Repubblica.
“This novel begins with a cry and ends with a dream. The interminable cry is that launched today by a sixteen-year-old teenager, named Ada, in the middle of a history lesson in a London high school.
The dream is that of a rebirth. Between the two, the meeting of the Greek Kostas Kazantzakis and a young Turkish girl, Defne, takes place in 1974, in Cyprus torn by civil war. Elif Shafak creates characters overflowing with humanity but also with flaws and doubts, bursts of generosity and contradictions, to tell the story of a forbidden love in a climate of hatred and violence that sweeps away everything in its path. . His powerful prose summons a clever mix of wonder, dream, love, sorrow and imagination to free the voice of previous generations, often reduced to silence.” (Presentation of Flammarion editions)
“The Island of Lost Treesis translated from English by Dominique Goy-Blanquet.