West with the Night - Softcover

Markham, Beryl

Softcover

ISBN 10: 8087830601 ISBN 13: 9788087830604

Publisher: Important Books, 2013

Synopsis

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-Exupery, 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.

About this title

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."

From AudioFile:

In a memoir almost lyrical in quality, Beryl Markham shares the story of her remarkable life. Raised in the early twentieth century on her father's farm in British East Africa, Markham became a racehorse trainer and accomplished aviator. Markham's rich and poetic passages are deftly caressed by narrator Anna Fields. Her phrasing and pacing make the most of writing that is at times as complex as it is inspired. Especially notable are Fields's portrayal of Africansâ her wistful humor, and her reverence for nature. Native words and names are gracefully intertwined in the narrative. Fields does justice to this rich memoir, praised by Ernest Hemingway as "bloody wonderful." N.M.C. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Important Books
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 8087830601
• ISBN 13: 9788087830604
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 300