West with the Night by Beryl Markham is a memoir that recounts the remarkable life of the author, who grew up in British East Africa and went on to become an aviator, racehorse trainer, and all-around adventurous woman. The book delves into her experiences flying solo across the Atlantic, her encounters with African wildlife, and her captivating storytelling style that paints vivid pictures of Africa and the era in which she lived.
The narrative in West with the Night seamlessly weaves together Markham's adventures as a bush pilot, her relationships with the local communities, and her daring escapades in the wild African landscape. The writing is described as lush, poetic, and evocative, capturing the essence of life in colonial Africa with vivid detail and eloquence that leaves readers spellbound and transported to a bygone era.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings include themes of colonialism, hunting, and encounters with wildlife, which may be unsettling to some readers.
From The Publisher:
Beryl Markham's West with the Night is a true classic, a book that deserves the same acclaim and readership as the work of her contemporaries Ernest Hemingway, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and Isak Dinesen.
If the first responsibility of a memoirist is to lead a life worth writing about, Markham succeeded beyond all measure. Born Beryl Clutterbuck in the middle of England, she and her father moved to Kenya when she was a girl, and she grew up with a zebra for a pet; horses for friends; baboons, lions, and gazelles for neighbors. She made money by scouting elephants from a tiny plane. And she would spend most of the rest of her life in East Africa as an adventurer, a racehorse trainer, and an aviatrix-she became the first person to fly nonstop from Europe to America, the first woman to fly solo east to west across the Atlantic. Hers was indisputably a life full of adventure and beauty.
And then there is the writing. When Hemingway read Markham's book, he wrote to his editor, Maxwell Perkins: "She has written so well, and marvelously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer . . . [She] can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves as writers . . . It is really a bloody wonderful book."
With a new introduction by Sara Wheeler-one of Markham's few legitimate literary heirs-West with the Night should once again take its place as one of the world's great adventure stories.
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1 comment(s)
"Every tomorrow ought not too resemble every yesterday"
Strong 3.5/5 story that started out a little confusing and non-linear but 40% of the way through turned into a above average interesting story.
What can you read after
West with the Night?
About the Author:
Beryl Markham (1902-1986) was a British-born Kenyan aviatrix, adventurer, and racehorse trainer.
Sara Wheeler is the author of, most recently, The Magnetic North and Access All Areas.
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