{"product_id":"9780735243415","title":"The Finest Hotel in Kabul","description":"\u003cb\u003eA NATIONAL BESTSELLER\u003cbr\u003e A \u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e EDITORS’ CHOICE\u003cbr\u003eLONGLISTED FOR THE 2026 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe story of a hotel. The story of a nation.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen the Inter-Continental Kabul opened in 1969, Afghanistan’s first luxury hotel symbolised a dream of a modernising country connected to the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMore 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. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLyse 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. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt 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. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe 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.","brand":"Lyse Doucet (CA)","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":49979276886373,"sku":"9780735243415","price":39.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0851\/2651\/2997\/files\/BNCImageAPI_3ba4a2d2-3e4e-43ee-b9b2-88b4a9c5c1c0.jpg?v=1759417768","url":"https:\/\/www.commonplaceingersoll.ca\/products\/9780735243415","provider":"Commonplace Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}