How is it that I had never heard of this book or of this woman before Raven recommended I read it for the Africa portion of the Global Reading Challenge? I was missing out on a real jewel!!
Beryl Markham's memoir, West With the Night, tells of her childhood growing up in British East Africa (Kenya) during the early part of the twentieth century. Her younger years were spent raising and training thoroughbred racehorses, first with her father then on her own when he lost his farm and moved to South Africa. Always one for excitement, she later leaped at the opportunity to learn to fly and turned it into a second career as a bush pilot. Perhaps the crowning glory of her career was when she became the first person to fly solo from London to the U.S. (west to east).
I loved this entire book! It's filled with wonderful descriptions of life in Africa in the 1920s and 30s.... lions, elephants, Siafu ants, safaris, horse racing, and, of course, flying. It was actually the flying that first interested me in the book. Having gotten my own pilot's license when I was younger, I found it easy to relate to her descriptions of flying. The entire book is beautifully written and totally engrossing. I highly recommend it!
This completed the Africa portion of the Global Reading Challenge for me.
