{"product_id":"the-finest-hotel-in-kabul","title":"The Finest Hotel In Kabul","description":"\u003cp\u003eTop 3 Sunday Times Bestseller\u003cbr\u003e\nBBC Radio 4 Book of the Week\u003cbr\u003e\nLonglisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA sweeping and immersive history of modern Afghanistan the first book from one of the world s leading war correspondents.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Simply unforgettable' ELIF SHAFAK\u003cbr\u003e\n'Terrific' THE TIMES\u003cbr\u003e\n'Incredible' PETER FRANKOPAN\u003cbr\u003e\n'Powerful and charming' FINANCIAL TIMES\u003cbr\u003e\n'Utterly compelling' PHILIPPE SANDS\u003cbr\u003e\n'Masterly' TELEGRAPH\u003cbr\u003e\n'Ingenious' KAMILA SHAMSIE\u003cbr\u003e\n'A must-read' SUNDAY TIMES\u003cbr\u003e\n'Beautiful' RORY STEWART\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLyse Doucet first checked into the Inter-Continental on Christmas Eve 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNow, 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThrough these intimate portraits of Afghan life, the story of a hotel becomes the story of a people.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Fabulous . . . A cross between the novel A Gentleman in Moscow and Wes Anderson s The Grand Budapest Hotel.' THE TIMES\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'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\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'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\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Full of warmth, wit, and a lovely eye for the human stories that make the hotel not just a monument to tragedy, but also love and resilience . . . This is the book about an Afghanistan I never knew that I always wanted to read.' FINANCIAL TIMES\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Oxfordbookstore","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45073851875507,"sku":"9781529151039","price":800.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/4164\/4723\/files\/81w9Hb_vWCL.jpg?v=1762881071","url":"https:\/\/oxfordbookstore.com\/products\/the-finest-hotel-in-kabul","provider":"Oxfordbookstore ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}