The Barons of Aleppo tells the modern history of the Middle East through the extraordinary saga of an Armenian family and their legendary hotel, founded in Aleppo in 1911.

The story begins in late 19th-century Anatolia, as the Ottoman Empire prepares the Armenian genocide. The Mazloumian family flees with nothing but a cart, a few trunks, and an unshakable determination to rebuild their lives. In Aleppo, patriarch Krikor has a bold vision: he opens the first hotel in the region. Fortune is on his side—one year later the Orient-Express extends its line to the city, transforming Aleppo into a crossroads of power, intrigue, and diplomacy.

The Baron’s Hotel becomes a stage for history itself: during World War I, the Mazloumians hide journalist Aram Andonian and the crucial documents of the genocide; in the 1930s, Agatha Christie drafts Murder on the Orient Express on its terrace. Statesmen, spies, and adventurers pass through its doors, making the hotel a silent witness to the great upheavals of the century.

But glory gives way to decline. After World War II, Syria’s turbulent path to independence culminates in a 1966 coup. The Baron’s is nationalized, and the family fights bitterly to reclaim it. Armen, the last Mazloumian, struggles to keep the hotel alive until civil war erupts in 2012 and Aleppo is shattered by bombs.

A sweeping narrative of exile, survival, and resilience, The Barons of Aleppo is both an intimate family chronicle and a powerful lens on the fractured history of the Middle East.