Author:
Beryl Markham
ISBN: 978-0865471184
When
Out
of Africa was released in 1985, starring Meryl Strep and Robert
Redford, it re-ignited an interest in Karen Blixen’s life in British East
Africa after the turn of the century. The
identity of Beryl Markham was disguised in the film. She was portrayed as character Felicity
Fairway, a free spirited young woman. Felicity had a small part to play in the film but
Markham, born Beryl Clutterbuck, was not only a rival for the kind of independent,
fearless, self sufficient woman Karen Blixen was on screen and in real life
but, as the film hints, also a rival for Denys Finch Hatton’s affections. Like Blixen, the lanky, blonde beauty also had
an amazing life.
Upon
more investigation into this understated character/woman’s life, West
With the Night came into my hands. Markham had moved in 1939 from Africa to
California with hopes that a movie would be made about her transatlantic
flight. When it did not come to fruition, this book was
written and published in 1942. As the author points out, it is a remembrance
of her life growing up in the wilds of Africa and ending with the recounting of
her non-stop flight, from London to New York in 1936.
The
book contains reminiscences of what shaped her formidable character. After being abandoned on her mother’s return
to England at age four, she grew-up unrestrained alongside the native boys, modeling
their fearless resolve of endurance and prowess. Groomed to be a woman living in a man’s
rugged world, she also pays homage to her father, at whose elbow she learned
the trade of race horse training. She
was the first licensed female horse trainer in Kenya.
by Kelly Alexander and Cynthia Harris
