West with the Night
San Francisco, CA: North Point Press, 1983. Twentieth printing [stated]. Trade paperback. [10], 293, [1] pages. Minor cover wear noted. Name of previous owner in ink on fep. Pencil erasure residue noted on fep. West with the Night is the story of Beryl Markham--aviator, racehorse trainer, beauty--and her life in the Kenya of the 1920s and '30s. In September 1936 Beryl Markham became the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic from east to west, taking off in England and crash-landing in Nova Scotia 29 hours and 25 minutes later. Beryl Markham (née Clutterbuck; 26 October 1902 – 3 August 1986) was a British-born Kenyan aviator (one of the first bush pilots), adventurer, racehorse trainer and author. She wrote about her adventures in her memoir, West with the Night. When Markham decided to take on the Atlantic crossing, no female pilot had yet flown non-stop from Europe to New York, and no woman had made the westward flight solo, though several had died trying. Markham hoped to claim both records. On 4 September 1936, she took off from Abingdon, England. After a 20-hour flight, her Vega Gull suffered fuel starvation and she crash-landed on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. She was celebrated as an aviation pioneer. More