- Imprint: Penguin
- ISBN: 9781804957943
- Length: 352 pages
- Price: £10.99
The Finest Hotel in Kabul
A People’s History of Afghanistan
ROBBIE MILLEN, The TimesThe 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 when it opened in 1969. Afghanistan was a kingdom then and in the years since, the hotel and its staff have seen coups, a Soviet invasion, a Marxist dictatorship, civil war, the Taliban, western invasion and occupation, the Taliban again. 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.
PETER FRANKOPAN, author of The Silk RoadsAn incredible book – vivid and beautifully written, it captures the soul of Afghanistan through an age of hopes and heartbreak, as well as one of constant change. A tender, wise and quietly devastating book.
KAMILA SHAMSIE, author of Home FireAn ingenious method of storytelling, and what a story the Inter-Continental Kabul has to tell. Lyse Doucet writes with verve and insight, and a clear warmth of feeling for Afghanistan and its people.
MICHAEL PALINThe Finest Hotel in Kabul plays to all Lyse Doucet’s strengths. Clarity, empathy, depth of knowledge and innate grasp of fine detail. Her subject is not just a hotel, but a hotel that tells the story of four decades of Afghanistan’s proud and sometimes unbelievably painful history. This is a most readable account of joy, despair and resilience in one of the world’s most fascinating countries.
PHILIPPE SANDS, author of East West StreetAs with the voice, so with the book: distinct, original, humane, powerful and utterly compelling.
ELIF SHAFAK, author of There Are Rivers in the SkyA book brimming with deep insight, courage and conscience. Everyone should read this. Astonishingly beautiful, subtle and simply unforgettable.
MISHAL HUSAIN, author of Broken ThreadsA story of a country and a people, told with knowledge, insight and tenderness. I’ve been waiting for a Lyse Doucet book for a long time and what she has produced here is testament to her humanity as well as her journalistic eye.
WILLIAM DALRYMPLE, GUARDIANCharming and often surprising . . . What sustains the book is Doucet’s focus on the ordinary Afghans who keep the place going despite the shelling, rockets, suicide bombs and occasional massacres of both staff and guests . . . the hotel remains a monument to Afghan resilience and to the bravery and persistence of its staff. In Doucet, and her witty, observant and sometimes heartbreaking book, they have found a worthy chronicler.
ZAHRA JOYA, founder of Rukhshana MediaThe Finest Hotel in Kabul offers an unflinching and intimate portrait of contemporary Afghanistan, from the hopeful days following the fall of the Taliban’s first regime to the chilling return of fear under their second rule. At the heart of the story is a woman who prepares food with her hands, yet in doing so, is quietly shaping the future. As the Taliban return, laughter fades, and like thousands of other women, she is pushed to the margins. This book is a powerful historical account of lives lived in the crossfire of conflict and power, a story too rarely heard, and too often overlooked. Broken promises of peace for a people who have lived, generation after generation, in the shadow of war and politics.
RORY STEWART, author of Politics On the Edge and The Places in BetweenWhat a beautiful book – inventive, compassionate, witty, brilliantly structured. An extraordinary introduction to Afghanistan, and a tribute to one of the finest correspondents of our age.
About Lyse Doucet
Lyse Doucet first arrived at the Kabul Inter-Continental Hotel on Christmas Day 1988, the day after her thirtieth birthday. Visiting Afghanistan to cover the withdrawal of Soviet troops following their disastrous decade-long occupation, she was immediately taken by the faded grandeur of the hotel and the warm hospitality of its staff.
Over the course of the next four decades, Lyse would report on many of the most significant moments in world history – from the Arab Spring to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and many wars in the Middle East – ultimately becoming one of the world’s best-respected war correspondents and the Chief International Correspondent for the BBC. But through everything, she has always found herself drawn back to her Afghan home, the hotel most people just call the ‘Inter-Con’. Here, she draws upon years of conversations with its staff and guests to tell the story that only she can.
Over the course of the next four decades, Lyse would report on many of the most significant moments in world history – from the Arab Spring to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and many wars in the Middle East – ultimately becoming one of the world’s best-respected war correspondents and the Chief International Correspondent for the BBC. But through everything, she has always found herself drawn back to her Afghan home, the hotel most people just call the ‘Inter-Con’. Here, she draws upon years of conversations with its staff and guests to tell the story that only she can.
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All editions
- Hardback 2025
- Paperback 2026
- Ebook 2025
- Audio Download 2025