'A scintillating book' TLS'Her company is a delight' Tatler'Part memoir, part social history... sumptuous and unsparing' Financial Times A brilliantly witty memoir telling the story of a young woman's determined struggle for freedom The Orient Express hurtles towards the promised land, freeing Banine from her past. Escaping her ruined homeland and forced marriage, she aspires to a dazzling future in Paris. As a chic Parisienne she mingles with émigrés, artists and writers-and even contemplates love. But freedom brings challenges. Swept along by the forces of history, can Banine keep up? Filled with vivacious wit and a lust for life, this companion to Days in the Caucasus is a paean to bittersweet dreams and the quest for happiness.