The 2 beautiful books I read (and highly rate) in September

I read two of the most beautiful books in September. They’re now both in my top 5 books of 2023 so far.

The two beautiful books I read in September

The Island of Missing Trees – by Elif Shafak

This exquisitely written story is about love, war, relationships, and a special tree. A Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot fall in love and meet secretly in a taverna where a fig tree grows through a hole in the roof. When war breaks out on the island, the teenagers, Kostas and Defne, are separated and life as they know it is never the same.

In London, Ada Kazantzakis lives with her father in a house with a fig tree in the back garden. Her father and this tree are the only connections she has with her family and the island they came from. As she finds herself dealing with personal, teenage struggles, Ada’s also trying to work out where she fits in the world.

And then after decades of living in London, Kostas, now a botanist, returns to Cyprus for work, but more importantly – to find his long-lost love. I adored this captivating story and the way in which it was told. There are twists and turns that kept me guessing all the way through and I won’t forget this book for a long time. My rating is 4/5.

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Related: The 3 books I read in August (they were all so good)

 

Still Life – by Sarah Winman

And this book stole my heart too. Ulysses Temper, an English soldier, meets Evelyn Skinner, a middle-aged art historian at a villa in Tuscany in 1944. And both of their lives are forever changed by this chance meeting. After the war, Ulysses returns to London – to the life and people he left behind before the war. But he never forgets his time in Italy and when he gets an unexpected inheritance, he makes the decision to return to Italy to make a life for himself there. This book tells the story of Ulysses and the many fascinating characters in his life. It also describes London and Italy, specifically Florence, so well that you can almost imagine yourself living there at the time. There is a strong thread of love that winds its way through this book and I was incredibly sad when I finished it. My rating is 5/5.

Order on Amazon US | Amazon UK

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