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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

Publisher Review

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 when it opened in 1969 . . . 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 * An 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. * PETER FRANKOPAN, author of The Silk Roads * An 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. * KAMILA SHAMSIE, author of Home Fire * The 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. * MICHAEL PALIN * As with the voice, so with the book: distinct, original, humane, powerful and utterly compelling. * PHILIPPE SANDS, author of East West Street * A book brimming with deep insight, courage and conscience. Everyone should read this. Astonishingly beautiful, subtle and simply unforgettable. * ELIF SHAFAK, author of There Are Rivers in the Sky * A 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. * MISHAL HUSAIN, Sunday Times bestselling author of Broken Threads * The 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. * ZAHRA JOYA, founder of Rukhshana Media * What 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. * RORY STEWART, author of Politics On the Edge and The Places in Between * Lyse Doucet is a consummate storyteller and first class journalist . . . A powerful and evocative account of a people who have borne tumultuous waves of progress and repression, from mini skirts and white weddings to burqas and gross Taliban denials of freedoms. A brilliant and important reminder of the cost of wars. * HELENA KENNEDY *