Borrowed Land

The epic, urgent story of a Scottish glen, its destruction and renewal, and those fighting to protect their home.

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

Powerful rivers that bring life and prosperity. Pictish cairns, undisturbed for centuries. Meadows of bluebells, where deer emerge, godlike, and disappear in a flash. In this and more, Kapka Kassabova reveals a beloved place achingly beautiful and alive, but in real and imminent danger.

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

An extraordinary portrait of a place vanishing into myth and all the life—plant, animal, human—it has held, Kapka Kassabova’s Borrowed Land is an epic and urgent story of destruction and renewal told through her own story and her encounters with those who may be the last of the Highlanders.