BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction A
sweeping and immersive history of modern Afghanistan - the first book from one of the world's
leading war correspondents. 'Simply unforgettable' ELIF SHAFAK 'Incredible' PETER FRANKOPAN
'Utterly compelling' PHILIPPE SANDS 'Ingenious' KAMILA SHAMSIE 'Beautiful' RORY STEWART In
1969 the luxury Hotel Inter-Continental Kabul opened its doors: a glistening white box high
on a hill that reflected Afghanistan's hopes of becoming a modern country connected to the
world. Lyse Doucet first checked into the Hotel Inter-Continental Kabul in 1988. In the
decades since she has witnessed a Soviet evacuation a devastating civil war the US invasion
and the rise fall and rise of the Taliban all from within its increasingly battered walls.
The Inter-Con has never closed its doors. Now she weaves together the experiences of the
Afghans who have kept the hotel running to craft a richly immersive history of their country.
It is the story of Hazrat the septuagenarian housekeeper who still holds fast to his
Inter-Continental training from the hotel's 1970s glory days - an era of haute cuisine and high
fashion when Afghanistan was a kingdom and Kabul was the 'Paris of Central Asia'. Of Abida
who became the first female chef after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. And of Malalai and
Sadeq the twenty-somethings who seized every opportunity offered by two decades of fragile
democracy - only to see the Taliban come roaring back in 2021. Through these intimate
portraits of Kabul life the story of a hotel becomes the story of a people. 'A story of a
country and a people told with knowledge insight and tenderness . . A testament to Lyse
Doucet's humanity as well as her journalistic eye.' MISHAL HUSAIN ' The Finest Hotel in Kabul
plays to all Lyse Doucet's strengths. Clarity empathy depth of knowledge and innate grasp of
fine detail . . . a most readable account of joy despair and resilience in one of the world's
most fascinating countries.' MICHAEL PALIN ' The Finest Hotel in Kabul tells the story of
Afghanistan through the Hotel Inter-Continental Kabul a sexy splash of glamour in a poor
mostly illiterate country . . . Doucet the BBC's chief international correspondent does a
terrific novelistic job of telling the story of the people who've worked there and what this
tumultuous change has meant for them.' THE TIMES 'A powerful and evocative account of a
people who have borne tumultuous waves of progress and repression . . . A brilliant and
important reminder of the cost of wars.' HELENA KENNEDY 'A deeply humane story of Afghanistan
revealing the impact of decades of upheaval on everyday lives.' JUDGES OF THE BAILLIE GIFFORD
PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION
