Days in the Caucasus by Banine architecture and of how the past

and of how the past haunts us

Blue Lard is a stylistically acrobatic book

A foreword by renowned architecture and culture critic Owen Hatherley

Based on extensive archival research and meticulous

tragic and often unbelievable histories of these bordering nations

Days in the Caucasus by Banine architecture and of how the pastWe all know families that are poor but 'respectable'. Mine, in contrast, was extremely rich but not 'respectable' at all This is the extraordinary memoir of an 'odd, rich, exotic' childhood of growing up in Azerbaijan in the turbulent early twentieth century, caught between East and West, tradition and modernity. Banine remembers her luxurious home, with endless feasts of sweets and fruit; her beloved, flaxen haired German governess; her imperious,