Cypress

Cypress is the gripping and powerful saga of two Cypriot families—one Greek, the other Turkish—divided by fierce
national and religious loyalties, and yet irrevocably drawn together by ties of blood.

Katerina, the passionate, impulsive daughter of the wealthy, patriarchal Papakyprou clan, defies three generations of Papakyprou men to elope with her forbidden sweetheart, the impoverished Kemal Turkoman. This romantic and reckless act seals a passion that will cost them the love and support of their families, and when civil war breaks out will even divide their own children—pitting brother against brother in a bloody war.

But it is a passion strong enough to survive persecution, separation, and even death itself, as enduring as the cypress trees planted by Katerina and Kemal as a symbol of their love and beneath which the novel’s dramatic and emotional climax is played out.