West with the Night

‘Beryl Markham lived out past the edges of herself, and that boldness and sheer originality come through on every page of West With the Night. Kenya‘s early frontier - harsh and romantic - flickers to life, as do Beryl‘s many adventures, but it‘s her unconquerable spirit that truly inspired and transported me. Her life deserves a second look and this book - a masterpiece - its rightful place in history‘ Paula McLain Unconventional, passionate and couragous, Beryl Markham was one of the most extraordinary women of the twentieth century: as a child in Kenya she spoke Swahili and hunted barefoot with the Murani tribe; as a woman she was a society beauty who courted scandal, a celebrated racehorse trainer, and a famous pioneering aviator. ‘Written so well, and marvellously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer . . . [She] can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves writers . . . It is really a bloody wonderful book‘ Ernest Hemingway ‘West With the Night is the sort of book that makes you think human beings can do anything . . . When she was a mere child, she was clawed by a lion. This should have been enough to make anybody timid for life, but not Beryl . . . A jewel of taut writing and thrilling reading‘ New York Times With an introduction by Martha Gellhorn