The Finest Hotel in Kabul

Description BBC Radio 4 Book of the WeekLonglisted 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