To the Lake: A Balkan Journey of War and Peace - Softcover

Kassabova, Kapka

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1644450267 ISBN 13: 9781644450260

Publisher: Graywolf Press, 2020

Synopsis

The celebrated author of Border explores a mysterious, ancient, and little-understood corner of Europe

Lake Ohrid and Lake Prespa. Two ancient lakes joined by underground rivers. Two lakes that seem to hold both the turbulent memories of the region’s past―the site of conflict and struggle going back to the reign of Alexander the Great―and the secret of its enduring allure. Two lakes that have played a central role in Kapka Kassabova’s maternal family.

As she journeys to her grandmother’s place of origin in To the Lake, Kassabova encounters a civilizational crossroads. The lakes are set within the mountainous borderlands of North Macedonia, Albania, and Greece, and crowned by the ancient Via Egnatia, which once connected Rome to Constantinople. A former trading and spiritual nexus of the southern Balkans, this lake region remains one of Eurasia’s oldest surviving religious melting pots. Meanwhile, with their remote rock churches, changeable currents, and large population of migratory birds, the lakes live in their own time.

By exploring on water and land the stories of poets, fishermen, and caretakers, misfits, rulers, and inheritors of war and exile, Kassabova uncovers the human history shaped by the lakes. Setting out to resolve her own ancestral legacy, Kassabova locates a deeper inquiry into how geography and politics imprint themselves upon families and nations, one that confronts her with questions about human suffering and the capacity for change.

About this title

About the Author:

Kapka Kassabova grew up in Sofia, Bulgaria, and now lives in the Scottish Highlands. Her most recent book is Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Review:

“From the deep labyrinths of the Balkan past, Kapka Kassabova has returned with another hoard of extraordinary lives, tales of survival, dark comedy, and horror. Humanity glitters under her gaze in all its facets. Her prose is spectacularly good and her storytelling is a joy.”―Philip Marsden

About this edition

• Publisher: Graywolf Press
• Publication date: 2020
• ISBN 10: 1644450267
• ISBN 13: 9781644450260
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416