I agree with Hemingway that this is a piece of high literature that reads like fiction and spreads itself before the reader like a well-produced film. It drove me to learn more about the author and her life.

Absolutely captivating personal account of times and places long gone. As a fan of "Heat of the Sun," this book was a treasure.

As a child growing up with her father in Africa, Beryl Markham faced down lions and wild boar. As an adult she trained race horses before learning to fly airplanes and becoming a bush pilot. Eventually she became the first pilot, female or male, to fly west with the night and cross the Atlantic ocean solo from Europe to North America. Markham brings the African bush to life with stories of boar hunts and elephant hunts. Of horse races and airplane flights over desert terrain. She lived a courageous life in a time when girls were only supposed to wear dresses and play with dolls and flying airplanes was a man's job. Highly inspirational to read!

There's so much to talk about in mother-daughter book clubs or any book club. How was Markham's life different from so many of the girls in her time? How would her life have been different if her mother was also in Africa raising her?

This book is beautifully written; I've read it three times and each reading I glean more and more from it. I highly recommend it for anyone in high school or older.

Much more than a memoir, Beryl Markham's work is a means of transport, not dissimilar to her beloved plane. It took me back to the Africa I lived in as a young bride, to its stark beauty, its dignified and desparate people, the language of its silences. Her tale of matter-of-fact mercies, and of cruelty equally unremarkable, is the stuff of life, as full of hope as of despair, for its millions of people. Her sensitivity instructs us in things as disparate as a young zebra's personal quirks, or the way the setting sun reflects off a downed plane creating an illusory lake in the dry Serenghettti. We learn of the hunger of a dying man for news from the city, and of the joy of friendship restored, but mostly, we learn of the heart and mind of a brave, independent woman for whom Africa is, eternally, home.

Fantastic! I don't care if Beryl Markham wrote this or not (it is rumored that her third husband, a Hollywood ghostwriter, wrote the book). Beryl Markham's story is fascinating: from growing up in East Africa on her father's horse farm, to training race horses, to her time in Africa as a pilot tracking wild game from the air ... all culminating in her historic solo flight across the Atlantic from east to west. This book brings the ultimate forms of praise from me: (1) I could not put it down; and (2) I am now seeking out anything I can find out about this amazing, daring woman. No matter who wrote the book, the use of imagery is astounding. Highly recommended.

The hardcover is the illustrated (with photos) edition of one of my favorite re-reads. Hemingway loved it, too. It is memoir that reads like fiction and it doesn't matter to me who wrote it (Beryl or her husband, as the scuttlebut goes). As a bookseller, I sell this one with a guarantee that if my customer doesn't like it they can return it for a full trade credit. None have been returned but many customers have dropped by to say that they have shared their copy with family or friends.

This a wonderful, mostly true, story about the early years and astonishing adventures of a young woman who grew up as one of the real "Out of Africa" characters. The other reviews do a good job of describing the story line of the book, so I won't repeat that.

At the time I read the book, I knew little about Beryl, and was so fascinated by this beautifully written, "Hemmingway-esque" book and its heroine that I wanted to know more. First, I read Mary Lovell's autobiography. I thought it was surely a "negative" biography and wanted to try to understand Beryl in a positive light. Then I read the much more impartial and well-researched autobiography by Errol Trzebinski, and realized that as a human being, there was little to like or admire about Beryl; Lovell's book turned about to be sugar-coated!

I came to realize that while "West with the Night" is an accurate description of Beryl's actions, it is a whitewash of her as a person and very misleading. Also, there is such overwhelming evidence that she did not write this extraordinary book, that I am surprised that she is still given credit for being its author. Even at the time, Hemmingway himself doubted that she could have written it. And he was in a position to know as it was written flawlessly in his style and he, shall we say, knew her "well." She barely had a high school education, rarely read anything, and never wrote another word. She wasn't even a letter writer. However, her naïve, love blinded and ill-fated husband, Raoul Schumacher, an experienced ghost writer, did possess the ability to write the book, and most certainly did; the early drafts of the book that were later found leave no doubt about this. Even in her dotage, Beryl refused to give credit to Raoul.

Beryl Markham grew up near Nairobi, raised by a loving father, and was an acquaintance of the much older and now famous Baroness Karen von Blixen. Karen initially thought of her fondly, but came to understand that Beryl was no friend of any woman. It was Beryl Markham that Karen was referring to in the movie when she was furious with Dennis Finch Hatten for having an affair with a younger woman. In real life, both Karen and Beryl aborted his children; one of the few untruths in "Out of Africa" was that Karen was infertile as the result of syphilis.

Beryl's list of sexual partners is a who's who of the times and includes royalty, and other celebrities. However, Dennis may have been the one man that Beryl actually cared for - probably because he cared so little for her. Even so, it must have been difficult for her to have him die during a period in which they were on again, and while flying an errand on which Beryl had originally planned to join him; and then for Karen to play the role of "widow."

Perhaps that was part of what made her such an unpleasant, moody, selfish, misogynous and promiscuous woman, although she had a pretty good start on that prior to Dennis's death. Also, she was no doubt affected by her mother's abandonment when she was a toddler, only to find out much later in life that the woman she thought was her mother, was not. That does not explain, however, Beryl's immediate and irrevocable rejection of her only child, a son, who was born with a rectal defect that required several surgeries and who was later somewhat sickly. The fact that he was not strong and manly was always an embarrassment to her, and she spent very little time with him.

Ernest Hemingway raved about this book - and for good reason. It is a fascinatingly multi-layered story told in a way that makes it very compelling and utterly believable. One of the greatest books I have read. It comes with controversy - maybe Beryl did not write it all herself. Still, she was a remarkable woman.

I read this book about 10 years ago so this is not a fresh review and I won't attempt to recall all the book's details.

But I can tell you it was one of the best books I've ever read. Not necessarily for the story itself, although it is quite interesting on it's own.

What made it so memorable for me was the quality of writing and the style of it. She evokes such intense feelings of nostalgia and loss - of an era gone by, youth passed, and people lost. Whenever I put it aside while reading it, I was aching to the point of tears - I compare it to the nostalgia/loss I felt while reading other novels like How Green Was My Valley and Angela's Ashes.

I am not trying to say this is a sad storyline as it is not. But I felt that I was experiencing what the author felt while writing it from her memories.

It's quite a shame the book is not more known in general. Those who have wandered via Amazon to this book, I deeply encourage you to purchase it while it is still in print. The paperback will suffice - it's of the bigger size - and it is not overly long or difficult to read.

This book was extremely well written. It is so well written that I am at a loss to describe it. It is a work of art. Read it.

Anyone who aspires to be a writer of any sort would do well to read this beautifully written memoir. Markham simply just knows how to write. Markham writes with a calm relaxed fluidity born of self assurance. She knows she can write and she knows her stories are interesting. There's no mawkish self effacement or shyness here. A natural leader. She stops just shy of arrogance in describing her upbringing, horse training and bush piloting. Her's is a voice from an era gone by & her worldview reflects the typical mindset of a white woman of her time and place. Just a great read.

This book is a hidden treasure. Markham offers a rich history of her life and the western influence upon east Africa, the land where she grew into a woman. Her writing style takes descriptive to a new level. This is an excellent book for readers of thirteen to ninety years of age. Enjoy!

Quite simply one of the best books I've ever read. West with the Night transports readers to a real life era of adventure (the 1930's in particular) in an Eastern Africa that scarcely resembles the region today. Markham's beautifully described tales of her adventures as a bush pilot make this one of those books that is hard to put down at the end of the day. As for her writing style, Ernest Hemingway's comment that she "Can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves writers" sums it up. I highly recommend this novel.

This is one of the best books I have ever read! The writing is superb and colorful. The author takes you on a journey through Africa. Also, I found this book to be very spiritual. Beryl Markham was an accomplished pilot and very courageous and ahead of her times. I savored every word!

Wonderfully written story of Beryl Markham's life growing up in Kenya East Africa and her career as an aviator. You can almost picture Markham sitting on the veranda at the Muthaiga Country Club telling tales of high adventure. It has been questioned whether she actually wrote the book or whether it was written by her third husband Raoul Schumacher. Either way it is a great story of a fascinating woman. Well worth the read.

AFTER READING THIS BOOK THE FIRST TIME, IT WAS SO GOOD I READ IT AGAIN 5 WEEKS LATER. THIS IS MY FAVORITE BOOK OF ALL TIME. I READ MORE THAN A BOOK A WEEK PLUS SEVERAL EVERY WEEK ON CD. I HAVE NEVER FOUND ONE TO COMPARE TO THIS.
GREAT

Wonderful story of an amazing woman at an amazing time. If you loved the movie Out of Africa, you will love this book!

The audio version brought back memories of my student exchange to Kenya in 1985! Those 4 months came flashing back. The events in the book are very vivid and realistic. I have to thank a bowhunting friend that told me about the book and how it really defines the lives of natives, British ex-pats and Hindu's. Anyone who is not transformed into another dimension by this story is not paying attention to the words!

There's been so many great things written about this book that it can be hard to think of something new to add to them, but I have to say after being an avid reader all my life, that this is still the most beautifully written autobiography I've ever read. Or book in general really. If you love writing and appreciate someone who's incredibly gifted at it, definatly get this book.
The subject matter of this story covers the life of the author growing up in africa at the turn of the century and then her experiences as a pilot in africa and becoming the first female to fly the atlantic from the UK to the states; but it's the she writes it that makes the book so exceptional.
A really, really beautifully written autobiography

This book was a real eye-opener the first time I read it; today it remains a well written and empowering book. She was, in the tradition of Anne Morrow Lindbergh and Jackie Cochran a woman who quietly set about raising the bar of what women in their generation were allowed to achieve.

Aside from the rather remarkable life story this lady tells, she gives a look at Africa during the early colonial period. She doesn't seem to view this period as a clash of cultures or as an environmental disaster, but her descriptive writing gives considerable insight into both. Her life story is even more interesting if you read her biography by Mary Lovell.

I'd never heard of Beryl Markham until a friend of mine loaned me this book. He thought I would enjoy it since I'd been to Africa and loved the places I visited. He was right! Markham grew up in Africa and her book relates many stories about those years. It also describes her encounters and adventures in the continent when she learned to fly and became a pilot as an adult. Much of the action takes place during the same time as "Out of Africa", and the two books share some characters. "West with the Night" is just as interesting, and an easier read. I've bought the book for several friends, wanting to share Markham's story with others that might enjoy learning about an independant and liberated woman that lived in an era when it was uncommon for a female to be either.

Beryl Markham's book West with the Night is a true story of how she lived and worked in Africa as a push pilot back in the 1930's -- almost amazing for a woman...what an experience alone-- what an adventure-- but her writing -- ahhh that's something amazing in itself....from dealing with the Blackwater Die to the lion who almost ate her to search for a Libyan port and a fallen colleague-- a beautiful book...each chapter is written almost like a true short story....she's a beautiful writer and to think this is a piece of our women's past that is here to still cherish-- belongs on the shelf of every women's studies office...great for a young woman to read....especially great gift to a chick going off to college.

West With the night is Beryl Markham's memoir of life as a bush pilot in 1930s Africa. The beautifully written prose paints evocative pictures of the Serengeti in the reader's brain, and each paragraph is dense and satisfying. A wonderful read, especially for fans of Out of Africa - and some of the same people are mentioned in this book.

If you really love this book, then don't read a biography of Beryl Markham. You'll only be disappointed.

The exceptional wordcrafting in West With The Night brings Africa alive and makes it almost a personal experience. Beryl Markham was a most interesting individual and her life growing up in Africa is the beautiful background for this book. I have only reread one book in my sixty-some years and this is it. I enjoyed it at least as much the second time around.

I recommend this book to anyone, especially those interested in Africa, horses, aviation or just splendid writing.

I adored the feeling I got reading West with the Night.
It is difficult to describe the characteristics of its structure or the poetic spirit that is marbled throughout its chapters. I feel (am) completely unable to express why I think West with the Night is so beautiful. Check it out.

I adored the feeling I got reading West with the Night.
It is difficult to describe the characteristics of its structure or the poetic spirit that is marbled throughout its chapters. I feel (am) completely unable to express why I think West with the Night is so beautiful. Check it out.

When Beryl Markham grew up in Africa, she did not just grow up, she had adventures. While growing up with neighbor boys and being raised by a father, she did not act like a regular girl.
The whole story takes you through her remebrance of growing up adventures to show the reader how she became an airplane flyer. While it is not until over halfway in the book that she tells of her flying experience, she does spell out even the most remarkable of details that she remembered of her somewhat fairy tale life that she lived in Africa.
If you enjoy hearing true stories, then you aught to buy this one. It is worth every second of it. If you enjoy fiction , this one is still worth every second and not a dull moment.

When Beryl Markham grew up in Africa, she did not just grow up, she had adventures. While growing up with neighbor boys and being raised by a father, she did not act like a regular girl.
The whole story takes you through her remebrance of growing up adventures to show the reader how she became an airplane flyer. While it is not until over halfway in the book that she tells of her flying experience, she does spell out even the most remarkable of details that she remembered of her somewhat fairy tale life that she lived in Africa.
If you enjoy hearing true stories, then you aught to buy this one. It is worth every second of it. If you enjoy fiction , this one is still worth every second and not a dull moment.

This is one of the best adventure tales ever written.

This is one of the best adventure tales ever written.

WEST WITH THE NIGHT is Beryl Markham's autobiographical story of her years in Africa and flying. As a student pilot myself, I was interested in her story. As a writer, I was impressed with her use of language and her storytelling ability. This book is a nice adult read and gives insight into another era. Ernest Hemingway, a famous author, was also impressed with Ms. Markham's book for on the back cover it shows a letter he wrote to a friend about it. I was also given this book by a friend and what a good friend to give me such a delightful book!
A. D. Tarbox, author of ALREADY ASLEEP (Oct. 2006)

WEST WITH THE NIGHT is Beryl Markham's autobiographical story of her years in Africa and flying. As a student pilot myself, I was interested in her story. As a writer, I was impressed with her use of language and her storytelling ability. This book is a nice adult read and gives insight into another era. Ernest Hemingway, a famous author, was also impressed with Ms. Markham's book for on the back cover it shows a letter he wrote to a friend about it. I was also given this book by a friend and what a good friend to give me such a delightful book!
A. D. Tarbox, author of ALREADY ASLEEP (Oct. 2006)

"There is a feeling of absolute finality about the end of a flight through darkness," Markham writes in her tragic story, "Men with Blackwater Die." "The whole scheme of things with which you have lived acutely, during hours of roaring sound in an element altogether detached from the world, ceases abruptly."

And there is a feeling of absolute finality about coming to the end of this gorgeous book of 24 stories of Africa, each one more magnificent than the last. That is one reason I have gifted this book to others, many times; the pleasure of reading it comes alive again, knowing that someone else is about to share it.

Never mind what Ernest Hemingway had to say. Never mind the petty jealousies, and questions about whether Markham wrote the book. No one else could have written it; No author would have willingly removed their name from this perfect little work. The book is too intensely personal, too brilliant to have been written by another. It was Markham, no question.

In these pages, Markham's life as a child in Africa and later, as a bush pilot, come alive, literally. The clearings blink into the author's horizon half an hour before dawn. And the reader blinks, forgetting that he is not there in Africa with her. One can hear the hum of her Avian as its wheels reach for solid ground and sweep her onto the runway and into "a maelstrom of dust and flickering orange light." Every line is potent, like fine bourbon, but sobering.

--Alyssa A. Lappen

"There is a feeling of absolute finality about the end of a flight through darkness," Markham writes in her tragic story, "Men with Blackwater Die." "The whole scheme of things with which you have lived acutely, during hours of roaring sound in an element altogether detached from the world, ceases abruptly."

And there is a feeling of absolute finality about coming to the end of this gorgeous book of 24 stories of Africa, each one more magnificent than the last. That is one reason I have gifted this book to others, many times; the pleasure of reading it comes alive again, knowing that someone else is about to share it.

Never mind what Ernest Hemingway had to say. Never mind the petty jealousies, and questions about whether Markham wrote the book. No one else could have written it; No author would have willingly removed their name from this perfect little work. The book is too intensely personal, too brilliant to have been written by another. It was Markham, no question.

In these pages, Markham's life as a child in Africa and later, as a bush pilot, come alive, literally. The clearings blink into the author's horizon half an hour before dawn. And the reader blinks, forgetting that he is not there in Africa with her. One can hear the hum of her Avian as its wheels reach for solid ground and sweep her onto the runway and into "a maelstrom of dust and flickering orange light." Every line is potent, like fine bourbon, but sobering.

--Alyssa A. Lappen

I read this book as an adult, but I wish I had read it as an adolescent (girl). Beryl Markham is a fascinating figure, but I felt kind of silly reading the book because it did seem like something geared to young people. Markham's writing contains some passages of patronizing racism, but overall a surprisingly little amount considering the time and history of colonialism in Africa. I think it would be a good read for a young teen and would hopefully open his or her eyes to the complications and complexities of colonialism and the perpetually surprising way in which you can be true to yourself by shaping an unconventional life.

I read this book as an adult, but I wish I had read it as an adolescent (girl). Beryl Markham is a fascinating figure, but I felt kind of silly reading the book because it did seem like something geared to young people. Markham's writing contains some passages of patronizing racism, but overall a surprisingly little amount considering the time and history of colonialism in Africa. I think it would be a good read for a young teen and would hopefully open his or her eyes to the complications and complexities of colonialism and the perpetually surprising way in which you can be true to yourself by shaping an unconventional life.

This women had such an interesting childhood and a full and rich life. What a great writer, I wish she had written more, I didn't want this book to end.

This women had such an interesting childhood and a full and rich life. What a great writer, I wish she had written more, I didn't want this book to end.

This is about the 8th purchase of this book. I read it in the 80s, and have bought several for gifts for my girlfriends. Beryl Markham is a strong woman and very creative throughout her whole life. It proves that gender shouldn't stand in the way of what you can do in life!

This is about the 8th purchase of this book. I read it in the 80s, and have bought several for gifts for my girlfriends. Beryl Markham is a strong woman and very creative throughout her whole life. It proves that gender shouldn't stand in the way of what you can do in life!

I was enthralled with this book from beginning to end. It is a fascinating biography of a remarkable woman and her accomplishments. But it is much more than a biography; in telling her story, Beryl Markham intimately and masterfully leads us through the years and adventures and places of her life.

As I flew through the pages, I couldn't help but experience a sweet fondness - almost as though I had somehow, through her eloquence, assimilated my own sanguine memories - for the things of her life, the things she loved; her Africa was my Africa.

Any person who has ever admitted to harboring prejudice - and we all do - should read this book. Beryl Markham accomplished great historically notable things, but her real legacy may be that in telling of her life, she introduces to us people, our earthly brothers, dwellers upon the Dark Continent, in a light that allows us to love them as kindred souls.

The book is inspiring, delightful and occasionally surprising as heroes emerge from unlikely places; real men and women of true character. It is a masterful expose with wonderful and enlightening narratives of the geography, vegetation, people and the wild and domestic animals of Beryl Markham's East Africa.

I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in adventure, aviation, humanity, horses, geography, world history, self governance, and everyone who savors life and seeks to be enriched with knowledge of the lives and ways of the great ones who have gone before us. Five Stars are well earned! -Obelus

I was enthralled with this book from beginning to end. It is a fascinating biography of a remarkable woman and her accomplishments. But it is much more than a biography; in telling her story, Beryl Markham intimately and masterfully leads us through the years and adventures and places of her life.

As I flew through the pages, I couldn't help but experience a sweet fondness - almost as though I had somehow, through her eloquence, assimilated my own sanguine memories - for the things of her life, the things she loved; her Africa was my Africa.

Any person who has ever admitted to harboring prejudice - and we all do - should read this book. Beryl Markham accomplished great historically notable things, but her real legacy may be that in telling of her life, she introduces to us people, our earthly brothers, dwellers upon the Dark Continent, in a light that allows us to love them as kindred souls.

The book is inspiring, delightful and occasionally surprising as heroes emerge from unlikely places; real men and women of true character. It is a masterful expose with wonderful and enlightening narratives of the geography, vegetation, people and the wild and domestic animals of Beryl Markham's East Africa.

I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in adventure, aviation, humanity, horses, geography, world history, self governance, and everyone who savors life and seeks to be enriched with knowledge of the lives and ways of the great ones who have gone before us. Five Stars are well earned! -Obelus

I've been listening to this audio recording on CD, read by Julie Harris, of "West with the Night" and I have to warn you that it is not to the standard I would willingly pay. I checked this item out from our library and I must tell you there are definite problems with this production.

I am in total agreement with other reviewers concerning the book. I have read the book and Beryl's (or whomever's) words can take your mind to East Africa - the smells, the sounds, the people! The problem is that this production has too many flaws.

First, the reader often magnifies her voice at inappropriate times, causing the listener to wince in pain. Most of the time, she reads at an acceptable volume and so you adjust your controls to listen, then, all of a sudden, she will raise her voice, as at the beginning of a sentence, and nearly split your ear drums. Then, she settles back into her normal volume.

That said, I could live with that one flaw...

However, another problem is that she often breaks off in mid-sentence or thought, pausing the recorder and then starting back up. Consequently, there is a noticeable gap in the reading. It virtually ruins the effect on many occasions.

Finally, in this production, you can hear the reader turning the pages and she often hesitates as she does so, so that you can't help but notice!!

All of these simply add up to a poor production of an excellent book. My recommendation is to try a different audio product (which I will do next).

I've been listening to this audio recording on CD, read by Julie Harris, of "West with the Night" and I have to warn you that it is not to the standard I would willingly pay. I checked this item out from our library and I must tell you there are definite problems with this production.

I am in total agreement with other reviewers concerning the book. I have read the book and Beryl's (or whomever's) words can take your mind to East Africa - the smells, the sounds, the people! The problem is that this production has too many flaws.

First, the reader often magnifies her voice at inappropriate times, causing the listener to wince in pain. Most of the time, she reads at an acceptable volume and so you adjust your controls to listen, then, all of a sudden, she will raise her voice, as at the beginning of a sentence, and nearly split your ear drums. Then, she settles back into her normal volume.

That said, I could live with that one flaw...

However, another problem is that she often breaks off in mid-sentence or thought, pausing the recorder and then starting back up. Consequently, there is a noticeable gap in the reading. It virtually ruins the effect on many occasions.

Finally, in this production, you can hear the reader turning the pages and she often hesitates as she does so, so that you can't help but notice!!

All of these simply add up to a poor production of an excellent book. My recommendation is to try a different audio product (which I will do next).

Markham's stories of hunting warthogs, stalking elephants, and being "moderately eaten by a lion" are some of the funniest and most vivid stories I have read. I put this book down with a profound regret for having lost so much of the world which she speaks of. My vocabulary is not adequate to describe the humanity and wit with which she has infused this book. So let me quote a few of the passages from this wonderful book so you may decide if you will enjoy her style of prose.

"I know animals more gallant thant the African warthog, but none more courageous...His eyes are small and lightless and capable of but one exression - suspicion. What he does not understand, he suspects, and what he suspects, he fights."

While visiting a dying man in a remote african outpost, she describes the conversation. "His voice was soft and controlled, and very tired. 'It's been four years since I left Nairobi, and there haven't been many letters.' He ran the tip of his tongue over his lips and attempted a smile. 'People forget,' he added. 'It's easy for a whole group of people to forget just one, but if you're very long in a place like this you remember everybody you ever met. You even worry about people you never liked; you get nostalgic about your enemies. It's all something to think about and it all helps.'"

And she goes on to describe his agony. "He will lie in his bed feeling the minutes and hours pass through his body like an endless ribbon of pain because time becomes pain then. Light and darkness become pain; all his senses exist only to receive it, to transmit to his mind again and again, with ceaseless repetition, the simple fact that now he is dying."

And here is her description of the hut the dying man lay in. "Here was poverty - poverty of women to help, poverty of hope, and even of life. For all I knew there might have been handfuls of gold buried in that hut, but if there was, it was the poorest comfort of all."

To paraphrase a quote from a letter Earnest Hemingway wrote to a friend about this book..."she has written so well, and marvellously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer...she can write rings around all of us...I wish you would get it and read it because it is really a bloody wonderful book"...He went on to say he heard she was a real...how do I say? A real female dog, but then some speculate Papa's advances were rebuffed so he did not like her personally.
I first read the book years ago and thought it was one of the best I have read. Years later I had an oppurtunity to travel to Kenya on a Motorcycle Safari with my brother Charlie Williams, he was to write a story for Trail Rider Magazine and I was to take the photos, I just found the story again on the TrailRider web site its one of them dot com sites.I suggested to my brother to read the book before our trip and I reread and was delighted to find we were going to travel through the same country she lived and wrote. She wrote so well about flying reminding me of our off road adventures in Kenya where you are often cruising miles of empty dirt roads solo, Hemingway was dead on, that girl sure could write good! Reading about the Lions of Tsavo however gave a little more edge to the trip, I reminded my brother that his snoring mimicked perfectly a Lioness in heat, he did not relent. I dunno read the book, and if you go to Kenya go on a offroad motorcycle otherwise you are going to be beaten senseless in the back of a dusty range rover, tenderised just right for a maneless lion to eat ya up like a White Castle hamburger, hold the mayo.

I am aghast that this book is available for under $1.00 here on Amazon. If you don't own this book, buy it! It is absolutely the best command of language that I've ever experienced - and you do EXPERIENCE it, rather than just read it. Markham's words will sweep you away and deposit you firmly in the midst of Africa during her lifetime, where you will hear the lions and the drone of the airplanes, and feel the heat and rain. This is one of only a handful of books that I have read more than twice in my lifetime. You will not regret owning this masterpiece.

Taken to Kenya at age three, in 1905, Beryl Markham was raised on a farm by her father and a much-hated governess - her mother soon re-abandoned pioneer life for England. And while other girls were groomed to be ladies of society, she learned to ride and train horses, played with the Nandi boys living on her father's land and went hunting with their fathers. Barely 19, she became a professional racehorse trainer; at age 24 (1926) her mare Wise Child won the prestigious St. Leger, beating the odds and the favorite, Wrack, likewise initially trained by Beryl but taken from her weeks earlier by an owner distrusting her experience. After marrying and divorcing again wealthy Mansfield Markham, whose last name she kept, she met pioneer aviator Tom Black (later pilot to the Prince of Wales), who awakened her interest in flying and soon became her instructor. Having obtained her B license - "a flyer's Magna Carta" - Markham operated a taxi and cargo service out of Nairobi and worked as a scout for professional hunters like author Karen Blixen's (Isak Dinesen's) (ex-)husband Baron Bror Blixen. After her return to England, in 1936 she became the first pilot to successfully cross the Atlantic from east to west, against the headwinds. (She didn't reach New York, as planned - technical difficulties forced her plane into a Nova Scotia bog - but her achievement created substantial headlines regardless.) After being lured to Hollywood by a film project involving her flight, and marrying and divorcing again the man who later claimed this book's authorship, writer Raoul Schumacher, Markham ultimately returned to Kenya and to racehorse training. No less than six of her horses won Kenya's East African Derby, making her a local celebrity of considerable note. She died in 1986.

"West With the Night" is a memoir of Markham's life in Kenya until her mid-1930s departure to England. In language rivaling Blixen's in poetry and Hemingway's in power and skill, it chronicles her unconventional upbringing, early 20th century colonial society, a racehorse trainer's anxieties and ambitions, a flyer's freedom and solitude, and those people who meant most to her: her father, her Nandi friends, Tom Black, and some persons also known to readers of Blixen's memoirs: Lord and Lady Delamere, Baron Blixen, and Denys Finch-Hatton, for whose attentions she competed with Blixen (who herself isn't mentioned at all, as Markham isn't mentioned, either, in "Out of Africa").

"There are as many Africas as there are books about Africa," we are introduced to the continent she considered "home:" "Being ... all things to all authors, it follows, I suppose, that Africa must be all things to all readers. ... It is what you will, and it withstands all interpretations." And the people Markham most respected matched this environment in hardiness as much as in diversity and depth: Baron Blixen, "six feet of amiable Swede," whose "appreciation of the melodramatic [was] non-existent," and who was "never significantly silent" and "the toughest, most durable White Hunter ever ... to shoot a charging buffalo between the eyes while debating whether his sundown drink will be gin or whisky." Denys Finch-Hatton, "a great man who never achieved arrogance," whose charm was "of intellect and strength," who would've "greeted doomsday with a wink," could "tread upon inferior men with his tongue," and was "a keystone" in an arch of lives which fell at his premature death, "leaving its lesser stones heaped [and] for a while without design." And Tom Black, Beryl's messenger from Destiny, who taught her that "when you fly ... you feel that everything you see belongs to you [and you're] closer to ... something you've sensed you might be capable of, but never had the courage to imagine," but who summed up the effect of Kenya's growing attraction to amateur hunters (aided not least by his own services) with the simple words "lion, rifles - and stupidity."

Perhaps Markham's most poignant accounts are those of her interactions with the Nandi. For unlike Karen Blixen, who came to Africa as an adult and never entirely abandoned a white colonialist's attitude, Markham's upbringing enabled her to innately understand their world: "He thought war was made of spears and shields and courage, and he brought them all," we learn about young warrior Arab Maina: "But [in World War I] they gave him a gun, so he left the spear and the shield behind and took the courage, and went where they sent him. [When he was killed,] some said it was because he had forsaken his spear." And when her childhood friend Kibii returns to become her servant, now a warrior himself and renamed Arab Ruta, she realizes that what a child doesn't know "of race and colour and class, he learns soon enough as he grows to see each man flipped inexorably into some predestined groove," and while Ruta will still be her friend, "the handclasp will be shorter ... and though the path is for a while the same, he will walk behind me now, when once, in the simplicity of our nonage, we walked together."

Like most memoirs - most notably Hemingway's "Moveable Feast" and Blixen"s "Out of Africa" - "West With the Night" is a selective account; and as in those works, the omissions only enhance its power. Hemingway's much-quoted lavish praise is both deserved and all the more notable as "Papa," otherwise so thrifty in lauding contemporaries, intensely disliked Markham as a person. - Authorship of the book has been called into question by the claims of Markham's ex-husband Raoul Schumacher, and by Errol Trzebinski's biography (which relies substantially on third-party accounts and merely proves that Schumacher had time and opportunity to write the book). It's a great shame that writing as lasting and beautiful as this should be marred by such a controversy. But there is no mistaking that this is, at heart, Beryl Markham's account. And therefore, ultimately ... "What matter who's speaking?" (Michel Focault, "What is an Author?")

Taken to Kenya at age three, in 1905, Beryl Markham was raised on a farm by her father and a much-hated governess - her mother soon re-abandoned pioneer life for England. And while other girls were groomed to be ladies of society, she learned to ride and train horses, played with the Nandi boys living on her father's land and went hunting with their fathers. Barely 19, she became a professional racehorse trainer; at age 24 (1926) her mare Wise Child won the prestigious St. Leger, beating the odds and the favorite, Wrack, likewise initially trained by Beryl but taken from her weeks earlier by an owner distrusting her experience. After marrying and divorcing again wealthy Mansfield Markham, whose last name she kept, she met pioneer aviator Tom Black (later pilot to the Prince of Wales), who awakened her interest in flying and soon became her instructor. Having obtained her B license - "a flyer's Magna Carta" - Markham operated a taxi and cargo service out of Nairobi and worked as a scout for professional hunters like author Karen Blixen's (Isak Dinesen's) (ex-)husband Baron Bror Blixen. After her return to England, in 1936 she became the first pilot to successfully cross the Atlantic from east to west, against the headwinds. (She didn't reach New York, as planned - technical difficulties forced her plane into a Nova Scotia bog - but her achievement created substantial headlines regardless.) After being lured to Hollywood by a film project involving her flight, and marrying and divorcing again the man who later claimed this book's authorship, writer Raoul Schumacher, Markham ultimately returned to Kenya and to racehorse training. No less than six of her horses won Kenya's East African Derby, making her a local celebrity of considerable note. She died in 1986.

"West With the Night" is a memoir of Markham's life in Kenya until her mid-1930s departure to England. In language rivaling Blixen's in poetry and Hemingway's in power and skill, it chronicles her unconventional upbringing, early 20th century colonial society, a racehorse trainer's anxieties and ambitions, a flyer's freedom and solitude, and those people who meant most to her: her father, her Nandi friends, Tom Black, and some persons also known to readers of Blixen's memoirs: Lord and Lady Delamere, Baron Blixen, and Denys Finch-Hatton, for whose attentions she competed with Blixen (who herself isn't mentioned at all, as Markham isn't mentioned, either, in "Out of Africa").

"There are as many Africas as there are books about Africa," we are introduced to the continent she considered "home:" "Being ... all things to all authors, it follows, I suppose, that Africa must be all things to all readers. ... It is what you will, and it withstands all interpretations." And the people Markham most respected matched this environment in hardiness as much as in diversity and depth: Baron Blixen, "six feet of amiable Swede," whose "appreciation of the melodramatic [was] non-existent," and who was "never significantly silent" and "the toughest, most durable White Hunter ever ... to shoot a charging buffalo between the eyes while debating whether his sundown drink will be gin or whisky." Denys Finch-Hatton, "a great man who never achieved arrogance," whose charm was "of intellect and strength," who would've "greeted doomsday with a wink," could "tread upon inferior men with his tongue," and was "a keystone" in an arch of lives which fell at his premature death, "leaving its lesser stones heaped [and] for a while without design." And Tom Black, Beryl's messenger from Destiny, who taught her that "when you fly ... you feel that everything you see belongs to you [and you're] closer to ... something you've sensed you might be capable of, but never had the courage to imagine," but who summed up the effect of Kenya's growing attraction to amateur hunters (aided not least by his own services) with the simple words "lion, rifles - and stupidity."

Perhaps Markham's most poignant accounts are those of her interactions with the Nandi. For unlike Karen Blixen, who came to Africa as an adult and never entirely abandoned a white colonialist's attitude, Markham's upbringing enabled her to innately understand their world: "He thought war was made of spears and shields and courage, and he brought them all," we learn about young warrior Arab Maina: "But [in World War I] they gave him a gun, so he left the spear and the shield behind and took the courage, and went where they sent him. [When he was killed,] some said it was because he had forsaken his spear." And when her childhood friend Kibii returns to become her servant, now a warrior himself and renamed Arab Ruta, she realizes that what a child doesn't know "of race and colour and class, he learns soon enough as he grows to see each man flipped inexorably into some predestined groove," and while Ruta will still be her friend, "the handclasp will be shorter ... and though the path is for a while the same, he will walk behind me now, when once, in the simplicity of our nonage, we walked together."

Like most memoirs - most notably Hemingway's "Moveable Feast" and Blixen"s "Out of Africa" - "West With the Night" is a selective account; and as in those works, the omissions only enhance its power. Hemingway's much-quoted lavish praise is both deserved and all the more notable as "Papa," otherwise so thrifty in lauding contemporaries, intensely disliked Markham as a person. - Authorship of the book has been called into question by the claims of Markham's ex-husband Raoul Schumacher, and by Errol Trzebinski's biography (which relies substantially on third-party accounts and merely proves that Schumacher had time and opportunity to write the book). It's a great shame that writing as lasting and beautiful as this should be marred by such a controversy. But there is no mistaking that this is, at heart, Beryl Markham's account. And therefore, ultimately ... "What matter who's speaking?" (Michel Focault, "What is an Author?")