num_pages: 416
description: The celebrated author of Border explores a mysterious ancient and little-understood corner of EuropeLake Ohrid and Lake Prespa. Two ancient lakes joined by underground rivers. Two lakes that seem to hold both the turbulent memories of the regions past and the secret of its enduring allure. Two lakes that have played a central role in Kapka Kassabovas maternal family.As she journeys to her grandmothers place of origin Kassabova encounters a historic crossroads. The lakes are set within the mountainous borderlands of North Macedonia Albania and Greece and crowned by the old Via Egnatia which once connected Rome to Constantinople. A former trading and spiritual nexus of the southern Balkans this lake region remains one of Eurasias most diverse corners. 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 destinies 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 universal questions about human suffering and the capacity for change.
language: English
title: To the Lake: A Balkan Journey of War and Peace
publisher: Graywolf Press