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. Derived from a Kirkus review of initial publication: Biography that is refreshing, colorful and unexpected. There is excellent and exciting detail of childhood as daughter of an Englishman who farmed and raised horses in Africa; there is a picture of African friends and neighbors; there is her decision to train race horses -- and then to take up flying, which led to adventure and new friends and finally to the chance to fly the Atlantic. Markham's West with the Night was originally published in the early 1940s and disappeared, only to be rediscovered and reprinted in the 1980s when it became a smash hit. Though Markham is known for setting an aviation record for a solo flight across the Atlantic from East to West-hence the title-she was also a bush pilot in Africa, sharing adventures with Blor Blixen and Denys Finch-Hatton of Out of Africa fame. Hemingway, who met Markham during his safari days, dubbed the book "bloody wonderful." from the Library Journal. Condition: Very good.

Keywords: Aviation, Aeronautics, Women Pilots, East Africa, Sudan, Tanganyika, Kenya, Rhodesia, British Colonies, Race Horses, Murani, Horse Trainer, Horse Breeder, Bush Pilot

ISBN: 0865471185

[Book #85557]

Price: $27.50

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