Kapka Kassabova, as a child, remembers her holidays near the border between Bulgaria, Turkey, and Greece, an area filled with soldiers, spies, and fugitives. In her book Border, Kassabova sets out on a journey to meet the people of this triple border—Bulgarians, Turks, Greeks, and the latest wave of refugees fleeing conflicts. She discovers a region shaped by historical forces: migration crises, communism, the two world wars, the Ottoman Empire, as well as the ancient legacy of myths and legends.

Along with companions such as border guards, treasure hunters, entrepreneurs, herbalists, psychic healers, and traffickers, the author explores the physical and psychological borders that cross villages and mountains, searching for the stories that will reveal the secrets of the area.

Border is an incisive portrait of a lesser-known corner of Europe and a compelling meditative analysis of the borders that exist between countries, cultures, and people, as well as within each of us.