Elif Shafak: Merton Big Read

Elif Shafak is the author of the 2026 Merton Big Read, The Island of Missing Trees. She has published 21 books, 13 of which are novels and her books have been translated into almost 60 languages. The Island of Missing Trees  was a finalist for the Costa Award, British Book Awards, RSL Ondaatje Prize and Women’s Prize for Fiction and was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick. 

Set in London and Cyprus and spanning a lifetime, this magical novelfollows the lives of two teenagers from opposite sides of a divided island, and tells a rich tale of belonging and identity, love and trauma, nature and renewal. The Island of Missing Trees explores the themes of human connection, the inheritance of pain, the power of kindness and the role of literature in giving a voice to the natural world.

‘An outstanding work of breathtaking beauty.’
Lemn Sissay