Days in the Caucasus

Banine, Anne Thompson-Ahmadova

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Paperback

Forthcoming
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French

Pushkin Press
18 November 2025

Biography; Memoirs; European history

A rediscovered classic memoir - the scintillatingly witty account of one extraordinary woman's life during a turbulent century

'A voice so vivid it seems impossible that it should ever have been forgotten' Evening Standard

'An effervescent and irreverent feat of recollection and imagination'-Wall Street Journal

We all know families that are poor but 'respectable'. Mine, in contrast, was extremely rich but not 'respectable' at all...

This is the unforgettable memoir of a childhood spent in Azerbaijan in the turbulent early twentieth century, caught between East and West, tradition and modernity.

Banine remembers her luxurious home, her beloved German governess and her imperious Muslim grandmother. She recalls how the Bolsheviks came, and how amid revolution and bloodshed she fell passionately in love, only to be forced into marriage with a man she loathed - until the chance of escape arrived...

The story of Banine's life is both a wry, romantic coming-of-age tale and a touching portrait of a vanished world. It is continued in her companion memoir, Parisian Days.

PRAISE FOR DAYS IN THE CAUCASUS

'An enchanting memoir' - Jane Shilling, Evening Standard

'This jewel of a memoir, written in 1945 but only now published in English, has all the makings of a Tolstoyan drama' - The New Internationalist

'Banine's autobiography captures a rarefied world on the brink of extinction' - Bryan Karetnyk, Spectator

'Banine's consummate prose is marked by undertones of erudite wittiness. Educated and pragmatic, but also hopeful, she expresses wanting nothing more than to be free to pursue self-realization. Days in the Caucasus was published in 1945; this first English translation of the memoir is an absolute joy-full of adventure, travel, and youthful dreams' - Foreword Review

By: Banine
Translated by: Anne Thompson-Ahmadova
Imprint: Pushkin Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 129mm,
ISBN: 9781805332206
ISBN 10: 1805332201
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 18 November 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Banine was born Umm El-Banu Assadullayeva in 1905, into a wealthy family in Baku, then part of the Russian Empire. Following the Russian Revolution and the subsequent fall of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, Banine was forced to flee her home-country - first to Istanbul, and then to Paris. In Paris she formed a wide circle of literary acquaintances including Nicos Kazantzakis, André Malraux, Ivan Bunin and Teffi and eventually began writing herself. Days in the Caucasus is Banine's most famous work. It was published in 1945 to critical acclaim but has never been translated into English, until now.

Reviews for Days in the Caucasus

'Every so often a voice emerges from the archive so vivid that it seems impossible that it should ever have been forgotten' - Evening Standard 'A delightful memoir of an eventful life set against the helter-skelter of the 20th century... Banine herself shines through as an intelligent and independent spirit, longing for her own self-determination' - Financial Times 'An enchanting memoir' - Jane Shilling 'I started to leaf through the book and was soon engrossed... So vividly and wittily does the author reveal to us an utterly unfamiliar world' - Teffi 'An effervescent and irreverent feat of recollection and imagination-epic in sweep yet intimate in tone-that introduces the reader to an exotic, antique world and to characters so vividly drawn that their raucous voices seem to echo long after they have vanished from sight' - Wall Street Journal