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Elixir
A Voyage into Alchemy
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Check link for latest rating. ( 341 ratings, 69 reviews)
Brief Description
Set in the valley of the Mesta, one of the oldest inhabited river valleys in Europe and a nexus for wild plant gatherers, Elixir is an unforgettable exploration of the deep connections between people, plants, and place. 'Uplifting and beautifully written' - SPECTATOR 'Dark and mysterious...
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Elixir
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Description
Set in the valley of the Mesta, one of the oldest inhabited river valleys in Europe and a nexus for wild plant gatherers, Elixir is an unforgettable exploration of the deep connections between people, plants, and place.
'Uplifting and beautifully written' - SPECTATOR
'Dark and mysterious and beautiful' - FINANCIAL TIMES
'Exceptional' - BBC WILDLIFE
Over several seasons, Kassabova spends time with the people of this magical region. She meets women and men who work in a long lineage of foragers, healers, and mystics. She learns about wild plants and the ancient practice of herbalism, experiencing a symbiotic system where nature and culture have blended for thousands of years.
Through her captivating encounters, we come to feel the devastating weight of the ecological and cultural disinheritance that the people of this valley have suffered. Yet, in her search for elixir, she also finds reasons for hope. The people of the valley are keepers of a rare knowledge, not only of mountain plants and their properties but also of how to transform collective suffering into healing.
Immersive and enthralling, at its heart, Elixir is a search for a cure to what ails us in the Anthropocene. It is an urgent call to rethink how we live - in relation to one another, to the Earth, and to the cosmos.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781529920475
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 08 February 2024
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Vintage
Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 25.0mm
Width: 130.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 281g
Pages: 400
About the Author
Kapka Kassabova is a prize-winning writer of non-fiction and poetry. Her recent Balkan quartet includes Anima (2024), Elixir (2023), To the Lake (2020) and Border (2017). Border won a British Academy Prize, the Scottish Book of the Year, Stanford-Dolman Travel Book of the Year, the Highland Book Prize and the Prix Nicholas Bouvier. It was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. The French edition of To the Lake won the Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger (non-fiction). Kassabova grew up in Sofia, Bulgaria, and studied in New Zealand. Today she lives by a river in the Scottish Highlands.
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Anima
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To the Lake
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