Ali & Nino

The remarkable work whose re-discovery has been compared to digging up a "buried treasure" (The New York Times).

Ali and Nino has been hailed as one of the most romantic epic novels of all time. A sweeping tale of love challenged by war, as romantic and gripping as Gone with the Wind or Dr. Zhivago, it portrays, against a glamorously exotic backdrop, the enduring love between childhood friends divided by separate cultures.

This is an unforgettable story of blood feud, adventure, and personal heroism--and a love that endures the upheavals of cultures. Ali and Nino, two lovers from vastly different backgrounds, grow up together in carefree innocence in Baku, on the Caspian Sea. Here, where East and West collide, they are inevitably drawn into the events of World War I and the Russian Revolution. Torn apart by the turmoil of the divided society around them, Ali joins the defense of Azerbaijan from the onslaught of the Red Army and Nino flees to the safety of Paris with their child, unsure whether they will ever see each other again.

"A beautiful novel." --Paul Theroux

"The brilliant sunset light it sheds on a millennial civilization is like living history; the alien yet immensely human characters draw one into their world with vivid conviction. The rescue of this novel is certainly an important literary event." --Mary Renault