Borderlines

Reviews / Votes

A wonderful book, and one of the most engaging and fascinating histories of Europe I've read for years. Roaming from the fields of Ireland to the towns of western Ukraine, Lewis Baston is the perfect guide, full of curiosity and insight. It turns a familiar story into something strange, surprising and often intensely moving. -- DOMINIC SANDBROOK, author of WHO DARES WINS and co-host of THE REST IS HISTORY Highly original and insightful...Rich in history and memorable anecdotes, this is an ambitious and affectionate attempt to describe the glorious complexity and diversity of Europe. -- PD SMITH * GUARDIAN * 'A stunningly topical and timely book. Lewis Baston is a remarkable talent, very gifted as a writer and quite extraordinarily perceptive and original in his thinking' 'Lewis Baston has incredibly strong research skills, thanks to his brilliant ability to make connections combined with an extraordinary wealth of knowledge. His writing is clear, witty and charming' His great strength is his ability to bring everything alive through his description of the places he goes and the people he meets... Baston's writing is beautiful, and it is combined with a sense of humour and a genuine love and interest for the border regions he visits. But what makes Borderlines a true gem is his ability to connect the history of these borderlands to the people who lives there over the centuries and the people who live there now...[Baston's] unique take on human nature through the history and heritage of the borderlands ends up being deeply moving. * Irish Independent * Free of dogma or indeed of anything even remotely stereotypical. Lewis Baston's writing is thrillingly unique, knowledgeable, perceptive and profound. This is the story of Europe told through the changing places, where one thing becomes another and two things can be true at the same time, blending psychology, travel, politics, history and geography. I'm not sure I've ever read anything quite like it. -- IAN DUNT 'A light-footed journey along the fault lines of history. Baston reveals a forgotten Europe, one that was and may have been.' -- KATJA HOYER, bestselling author of Beyond the Wall 'A stunningly topical and timely book. Lewis Baston is a remarkable talent, very gifted as a writer and quite extraordinarily perceptive and original in his thinking' -- ANTHONY SELDON A thoughtful tour of boundaries, identities and places in-between... refreshing and important. -- RAFAEL BEHR An original, charming and thought-provoking journey along many Europe's most interesting borders, visible, invisible and fiercely contested. -- TIMOTHY GARTON ASH, author of Homelands: A Personal History of Europe 'Lewis Baston has incredibly strong research skills, thanks to his brilliant ability to make connections combined with an extraordinary wealth of knowledge. His writing is clear, witty and charming' -- ALEX VON TUNZELMANN 'The past, that foreign country, haunts Borderlines in often surprising and unexpected ways... A vivid, deeply researched and fascinating story.' -- JOHN FREEMAN, author of Reaction