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The Finest Hotel in Kabul

A People's History of Afghanistan

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The Finest Hotel in Kabul

Auteur(s): Lyse Doucet
Narrateur(s): Lyse Doucet
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 A NATIONAL BESTSELLER
A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2026 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION

The story of a hotel. The story of a nation.

When the Inter-Continental Kabul opened in 1969, Afghanistan’s first luxury hotel symbolised a dream of a modernising country connected to the world.

More than fifty years on, the Inter-Continental is still standing. It has endured Soviet occupation, multiple coups, a grievous civil war, a US invasion and the rise, fall and rise of the Taliban. History lives within its scarred windows and walls.

Lyse Doucet, the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent, has been checking into the Inter-Continental since 1988. And here, she uses its story to craft a richly immersive history of modern Afghanistan.

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 Asia’. It is the story of Abida, who became the first female chef to cook in the Inter-Con’s famous kitchen after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. And it is the story of Malalai and Sadeq, the twenty-something staff who seized every opportunity offered by two decades of fragile democracy—only to witness the Taliban roaring back in 2021.

The result is a remarkably vivid history of how Afghans have survived a half century of destruction and disruption. It is the story of a hotel but also the story of a people. Art et littérature Asie Journalistes, rédacteurs et éditeurs Moderne Politique XXIe siècle
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Brilliant, novel telling of the stories of Afghanistan, told through the eyes of the staff and guests of the Intercontinental Hotel Kabul, which has been at the centre of each stage of modern Afghan history. The personal stories of the staff bring raw humanity to the horrors faced by ordinary people as world powers played tug of war with a nation. Narrated by Lyse, who I grew up watching on BBC in practically every warzone, made the story humanly urgent - a skill few people have, but Lyse is a true expert.

Fascinating, gripping, and deeply sad

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The modern history of Afghanistan is revealed through the stories of the ordinary Afghanis working in the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul. Lyse Doucet gives a wonderful empathetic account of their often heart wrenching stories in the midst of terrorist attacks, bombings and multiple changes of government and authority. Her years of experience as a war correspondent and now BBC chief foreign correspondent shine through this extremely well written and narrated account (with her characteristic unique accent that is neither Canadian, English nor French Canadian). From the stylish decadent early years right through two episodes of Taliban rule somehow this iconic institution survives as a tribute to the visionaries who placed it above Kabul overlooking the Hindu Kush. Bravo, wonderful stuff that makes one feel like a guest in the lobby.

Immersive experience for the ages

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