The Great Game

Inspired by true historical events, The Great Game is a gripping narrative of the personal ambitions and geopolitical interests in the very first fight for oil that played out on the shores of the Caspian Sea. The struggle to control Baku’s oil pitted the richest families of the time against each other – front and center are the Nobels locked in a rivalry with the Rothschilds and the Rockefellers. Darkening the plot further were the Communist revolutionaries Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin.


The novel takes us on a journey where Baku is transformed into the world’s oil center by the turn of the 20th century through the technological innovations and business ingenuity of the Nobel family. It offers a glimpse into the life of that period – widening economic inequality, immense personal hardships, family separations, broken promises and hearts.


Based on extensive research, The Great Game offers a captivating account of the rise of oil as the world’s top strategic commodity while simultaneously drawing us into the heart of the personal stories and rivalries of the early oil barons in Baku.