Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe by Kapka Kassabova - 4.4 stars

[Sushicat]

Kassabova takes us on a journey back to her homelands, the borderlands between Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece. It is a journey into a land steeped in history, filled with stories old and recent about people migrating by choice or by force between these lands, a journey into the past. Her encounters by change and by choice lead her to consider the myriad ways the lives and histories of the people she encounters are interconnected and how their lives were shaped by the forces of politics that shifted people between countries due to their religious or ethnic or lingual affiliations. It is most of all a search for belonging and identity, it gives voice to people who are nurturing traditions, trying to keep alive the history and the culture of a region whose rich heritage has been shaped by many different groups of people. Fascinating.