The Finest Hotel in Kabul is the story of a hotel. And a story of a nation. It is a New York Times Editor' Choice, and has been shortlisted for the 2026 Women's Prize for Non-fiction.

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.

When the Inter-Continental Kabul opened in 1969, Afghanistan’s first luxury hotel symbolized a dream of a modernizing 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, C.M., O.B.E., was born in eastern Canada. She is the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent and a senior presenter who anchors news programs for BBC World TV and World Service Radio. She is regularly deployed to present special news coverage from the field, interview world leaders and report across the BBC’s domestic and global outlets.

Lyse Doucet joined the BBC’s team of presenters in 1999 after 15 years as a foreign correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem, Amman, Islamabad, Tehran, Kabul, and Abidjan. A longtime Middle East specialist, she has covered major regional stories since establishing the BBC’s Amman bureau in 1994.

She was awarded an O.B.E. in 2014 for services to broadcasting and has received numerous honours, including the Columbia Journalism Award for lifetime achievement (2016), a Peabody and Emmy (2014) for reporting from Syria, and several international journalism awards recognizing her coverage of global issues.

Beyond her reporting, she serves as a trustee or patron for several international organizations, is a founding member of the Marie Colvin Journalists’ Network, and a Senior Fellow at Massey College, University of Toronto. She holds eleven honorary doctorates, along with degrees from the University of Toronto and Queen’s University.

You can follow Lyse Doucet on:

- X: (bbclysedoucet)

- Facebook: (lyse.doucet.1)

- Instagram: (lyse.doucet)