Borrowed Land: A Highland Story

‘Brave, intense, unexpected, lyrical and troubling’ Rory Stewart

An extraordinary portrait of the Scottish Highlands: this is an epic and urgent story of destruction and renewal, told through unforgettable encounters with its people.

This is the story of a Scottish glen and its inhabitants, and of how I came to call it my glen.

From the powerful rivers that bring life and prosperity, to the Pictish cairns, undisturbed for centuries and the meadows of bluebells, from which 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.

‘A poetic and haunting anatomy of what happens when a world is addicted to extraction’ James Crawford

‘Stark and moving. A hymn, a howl and a call to action all at once’ Ben Rawlence

‘A brilliant, daring and urgent account’ Sally Huband