Los días del Cáucaso

Banine remembers the waters of the Caspian Sea, his luxurious mansion in Baku, the splendid parties, the fruits, the sweets; to his German governess with the most blond hair, to her imperious and strict Muslim grandmother, to her relatives who were as wealthy as they were not at all respectable who, arguing and smoking relentlessly, played cards for the immense fortune that oil had made them amass.Banine remembers how the Bolsheviks came then, and suddenly they lost everything; how in the whirlwind of revolution and bloodshed she fell passionately in love with a man, but only to be forced to marry another she loathed; until she got the chance to escape, to Istanbul first, to Paris later.In this elegant, ironic and moving memoire -one of the most original and fast-paced autobiographical books of the 20th century- Banine recalls his fascinating and turbulent youth in the disputed territory of Azerbaijan, in perpetual balance between East and West, between the world of yesterday. and the uncertain days ahead.