West with the Night - A Memoir

A new edition of a great, underappreciated classic of our time

Beryl Markham's West with the Night is a true classic, a book that deserves the same acclaim and readership as the work of her contemporaries Ernest Hemingway, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and Isak Dinesen.

If the first responsibility of a memoirist is to lead a life worth writing about, Markham succeeded beyond all measure. Born Beryl Clutterbuck in the middle of England, she and her father moved to Kenya when she was a girl, and she grew up with a zebra for a pet; horses for friends; baboons, lions, and gazelles for neighbors. She made money by scouting elephants from a tiny plane. And she would spend most of the rest of her life in East Africa as an adventurer, a racehorse trainer, and an aviatrix she became the first person to fly nonstop from Europe to America, the first woman to fly solo east to west across the Atlantic. Hers was indisputably a life full of adventure and beauty.

And then there is the writing. When Hemingway read Markham's book, he wrote to his editor, Maxwell Perkins: "She has written so well, and marvelously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer ... She can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves as writers . . . It is really a bloody wonderful book."

With a new introduction by Sara Wheeler one of Markham's few legitimate literary heirs West with the Night should once again take its place as one of the world's great adventure stories.

Reviews

“Did you read Beryl Markham's book, West with the Night? I knew her fairly well in Africa and never would have suspected that she could and would put pen to paper except to write in her flyer's log book. As it is, she has written so well, and marvelously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer. I felt that I was simply a carpenter with words, picking up whatever was furnished on the job and nailing them together and sometimes making an okay pig pen. But [she] can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves writers. The only parts of it that I know about personally, on account of having been there at the time and heard the other people's stories, are absolutely true ... I wish you would get it and read it because 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 . . . The girl can write.” - John Chamberlain, The New York Times

"Such an exquisitely written story of a life, one keenly self-assured woman's life told in her own words. Beryl Markham was a soul too large to closet in modern feminist terms. Nor did she flaunt social convention to experience adventure as a man. Beryl lived a full measure savoring every morsel that growing up in Africa with her father could afford. Her respect for tribal peoples, the animals, and the land is a love story. She also loved flying airplanes and was the first woman to achieve coveted status in male dominated skies. Her skill in managing thoroughbred horses only added to her maverick lifestyle. This autobiography belongs in your collection. You will be planted in the soil of Africa. Listen to Beryl's voice urging you to learn as much as you can and live large. Take a chair in her hunting tent. Her shadow, intertwined with the lamp flame, abruptly bends when an elephant bellows west into the night."

- R. D.

"This book is one of my all-time favorites - the descriptive language used to paint word pictures is nothing short of poetic. The author relates beautiful stories of her interesting and exciting life growing up in Africa - from her young girlhood on her father's station, to lion hunting (and being hunted by lions), to her love of horses, to her eventual transition to being one of Africa's (and the world's) first female aviators. All fascinating stuff in its own right. But I would be content to read her narratives if she were only describing doing her laundry on a typical Monday. The words she chooses are so lyrically moving, they leave a lasting impression on any reader who takes joy in the sheer beauty of the English language, properly used.

Small wonder this is considered one of the most beautiful books ever written."

- Graham

"An absorbing story of a very independent African girl without a Mom, but an adoring Dad. She runs with the native hunters and has native playmates. Her Dad has a horse farm and of course she loves one particular horse and eventually has her own stables. However, she learns to fly in the early days over Africa and therein lies the most gripping part of the tale. If you love Africa, you will really enjoy her book. I enjoyed every moment and hated for the book to end, It is very well written."

- Rosalie

"Few books capture the spirit of Africa as well as this timeless memoir by Beryl Markham. Even though it is set in the 1930s in Kenya (or, as it was then called, British East Africa), it brings alive so much of what is typical for Africa even today - the endless savannah, the spirit of daring and adventure, the humility and simple wisdom of its people. Whether it is tales of encounters with leopards and lions, of horse breeding, of elephant hunts, or most of all her incredible experiences as a trailblazing bush pilot in colonial Africa, they will instantly captivate you and bring the scenery alive as if you were there.

But even if you have no interest in Africa I can highly recommend this book. It is written in such poetic prose that I found myself re-reading sentences for their sheer beauty. Of a most mundane thing such as a road sign outside Nairobi announcing, somewhat optimistically, the way to Khartoum and Cairo, she observes that "I have never known whether this questionable encouragement to the casual traveler was only the result of well-meant wishful thinking or whether some official cursed with a depraved and sadistic humour had found an outlet for it after years of repression in a muggy Nairobi office. In any case, there the sign stood, like a beacon, daring all and sundry to proceed (not even with caution) toward what was almost sure to be neither Khartoum nor Cairo...". West With The Night is full of such little nuggets that make reading it sheer pleasure."

- E. Melusine Thieme

"This book is amazing. Beryl takes you on the journey of her life. She is very brave. She was a part of Africa. Her ability to use words to tell stories is the best ever. Upon finishing the book, you will be searching to see, if she has written more. Highly recommended."

- K. C.

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About the Author

Beryl Markham (1902-1986) was a British-born Kenyan aviatrix, adventurer, and racehorse trainer.

Sara Wheeler is the author of, most recently, The Magnetic North and Access All Areas.

Paperback: 293 pages

Publisher: North Point Press; 2 edition (January 22, 2013)

Language: English

Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 0.9 x 8.2 inches

Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces