West With the Night (North Point Press) by Beryl Markham was first copyrighted in 1942, so don’t look for this gem on the just-released shelf. Since I’m researching memoirs and am always interested in all things African, I found this book extraordinary. Markham, born in England but raised in British East Africa, shows a powerful command of the English language.
In her childhood Markham hunted with tribesmen, endured the same discomforts, ran the distance with the best of them. Later, she followed her father’s passion for horses, raising thoroughbreds for the track and keeping them for her own pleasure.
In the mid-1930's, Markham became enchanted with flying and learned from a master flyer, Tom Black, who taught her in a D. H. Gipsy Moth. She achieved her “A” license, then later, her “B” license which entitled her to earn a living flying. In the early years, she carried mail, passengers, supplies to safaris and occasionally joined in a search for a downed plane. Often, her destination was marked by a single column of smoke, or at night, a row of small fires or lanterns.
Hunting bull elephant for their ivory was popular in the 1930's. As I read these encounters, I simply had to put aside what we know now about extinction and the injustice of killing an animal for a single feature of its body. Markham became enamored with the sport of spotting herds of elephant, working with one of Africa’s best known white hunters, Baron von Blixen, whom Markham called Blix.
In 1936, Beryl Markham met head-on a challenge of a trans-Atlantic solo flight, east to west, England to America. She would fly non-stop a night and a day. However, somewhere off the coast of Newfoundland ice lodged in the petrol tank’s air intake, partially choking fuel flow to the carburetor. The engine failed, caught, failed again and again, but finally would not restart and, after twenty-one hours and twenty-five minutes, Markham had to force-land in a Nova Scotia bog, burying the plane’s wheels and tipping it head-first into the mud. Markham managed to crawl out of the plane and wandered in the muck for an hour before being rescued.
Beryl Markham was a remarkable woman and West With the Night a memorable accounting of her life. Ernest Hemingway said of this book, “...[Beryl Markham] can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves writers...” I won’t argue with that. It is an engaging, elegant book.
5 comments:
Mary, this book goes in waves at the library, haven't seen it go out in ages.
If you enjoyed this one, perhaps, you will enjoy "The Bolter" by Frances Osborne. I found it absolutely riveting.
Mary,
Congrats on discovering a book that is dear to pilots' hearts.
Markham's fascinating book includes two of the most riveting descriptions of flying ever written. One from her flight with Blix over the Mediterranean and then other the England to North America flight.
Thanks for bringing this classic to the attention of non pilots.
Sarah Rickman
Hi Mary,
I must have read this wonderful book more than 40 years ago. She stays in my mind as inspiration for bravery and independence. Thanks for the reminder.
Arletta
Sounds like an interesting story. If you like Africa, I imagine you've read and seen the movie of the same name "Out of Africa." Also have you read about Martin and Olsa Johnson (Kansas folks)who traveled to Africa to hunt game with a camera.
Eunice, I'm a huge fan of anything African and have been since childhood. I found the tie-ins in this book and Out of Africa so interesting. And yes, I read all I could of Martin and Olsa Johnson's African adventures. They are what really what spurred my interest in Africa. In 1979-1981 my husband and I served in The Gambia with the Peace Corps. I'm writing about that now, in the form of a memoir I'm calling Toubobs.
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