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Borrowed Land

A Highland Story

This is the intimate story of a Scottish glen and its inhabitants, of whom I am one.

From the powerful rivers that bring life and prosperity; to the Pictish cairns, undisturbed for centuries; to the meadows of bluebells, where deer emerge, God-like, in a flash, Kapka Kassabova reveals a world that has been abused, but remains achingly beautiful and alive.

In the Highlands, centuries-old connections between the land, nature and people have been, and continue to be, shaken by the forces of colonialism, industry, depopulation, and private property speculation. Borrowed Land tells the stories of those who are working against this disconnect: the last true Highlanders fighting to preserve their home.

An extraordinary portrait of the Scottish Highlands, this is an epic and urgent story of destruction and renewal, told through encounters with some of the last true Highlanders.

Kassabova is writing about how we forgot the land and our animals and banished many tribes. In doing so, we lost our soul... A classic for our times

Monique Roffey on ANIMA

About Kapka Kassabova

Kapka Kassabova is a prize-winning writer of non-fiction and poetry. Her recent Balkan quartet includes Anima (2024), Elixir (2023), To the Lake (2020) and Border (2017). Border won a British Academy Prize, the Scottish Book of the Year, Stanford-Dolman Travel Book of the Year, the Highland Book Prize and the Prix Nicholas Bouvier. It was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. The French edition of To the Lake won the Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger (non-fiction). Kassabova grew up in Sofia, Bulgaria, and studied in New Zealand. Today she lives by a river in the Scottish Highlands.
Details
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • ISBN: 9781529944686
  • Length: 352 pages
  • Price: £11.99
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