Parisian Days

Description

The Orient Express hurtles towards the promised land, and Banine is free for the first time in her life. She has fled her ruined homeland and unhappy forced marriage for a dazzling new future in Paris. Now she cuts her hair, wears short skirts, mingles with Russian emigres, Spanish artists, writers and bohemians in the 1920's beau monde - and even contemplates love.But soon she finds that freedom brings its own complications. As her family's money runs out, she becomes a fashion model to survive. And when a glamorous figure from her past returns, life is thrown further into doubt. Banine has always been swept along by the forces of history. Can she keep up with them now?Told with vivacious wit and a lust for life, this companion to Days in the Caucasus is a bittersweet portrayal of youthful dreams, and the elusive search for happiness.

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, Andre Malraux, Ivan Bunin and Teffi and eventually began writing herself. Parisian Days continues the story that began with Days in the Caucasus, telling of Banine's arrival in the French capital and her journey to becoming a writer.

Praise 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