Still Worthy of Spotlight: West with the Night

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.

Inspired by the men she encountered in her life, she took to the air as a bush pilot, carrying supplies and passengers as well as scouting from the air for the big game hunters she knew to make a living for herself.   She was also the first woman to have a commercial pilot’s license in Kenya.  These early accomplishments would give her the confidence to accept the challenge of the solo transatlantic flight, facing the wind.  She is described by many to be the first person to cross the Atlantic from east to west.

 

Although there is still is controversy that the book was written by Markham alone, the experiences, substantiated in works by various other authors, are definitely hers.  Who could resist reading it after passionate endorsement on the back cover by Earnest Hemingway which comes from an excerpt from his letter to Maxwell Perkins?  I agree with Hemingway.  It is well written and speaks of Africa’s rugged, raw beauty that I imagine it to possess. 

Read other books to learn more about Markham:

Flying Against the Wind: a story about Beryl Markham by Bowen, Andy Russell.   Library Call Number:  YOUTH-B MARKHAM, B

The Lives of Beryl Markham: Out of Africa's hidden free spirit and Denys Finch Hatton's last great love by Trzebinski, Errol.  Library Call Number: B MARKHAM, B