The book review:
West with the Night, by Beryl Markham
North Point Press, San Francisco, 1983

Straight on till Morning, by Mavis Lovell
St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1987

The Lives of Beryl Markham, by Errol Trzebinski
W.W. Norton, New York, 1993

Beryl Markam was a unique individual. Raised wild and motherless on her father’s Mau summit farm, she grew up independent, free spirited, cynical about European haughtiness, and appreciative of African culture. She became a renowned aviatrix, especially for her solo trans-Atlantic passage that gave her autobiography its evocative name. She made her living, however, as a Kenyan horse trainer. Beryl was glamorous and well known in Kenya’s colonial society in the twenties and thirties. She went on to become a Hollywood celebrity, but returned to Africa—Kenya, South Africa and finally Kenya again—for the latter stages of her fascinating life.

Beryl tells her own story in “West with the Night” that essentially chronicles her youth, coming of age and adventures in Kenya as a pilot and lover of famed hunter Denys Fitch Hatton. Her lyrically written autobiography ends with the trans-Atlantic flight that thrust her prominently on the world stage.

Beryl’s early years also are covered in the two biographies. Each of them, however, continues to catalog other events in Beryl’s storybook life—the Hollywood era, the South Africa sojourn and her return to horse racing in Kenya—as well to comment on them and to speculate on what Beryl was up to. Ms. Markam remained notable for her feistiness, her love for horses (whom she went to check on during the midst of Kenya’s 1982 coup attempt) and her independence. Beryl herself, for example, successfully sought to remain mysterious about the father of her son as well as the extent of her role in writing “West with the Night.” Trzebinski elucidates on this latter point with conviction demonstrating that Beryl’s then husband (second of three) Raul Schumacher, an author in his own right, wove Beryl’s stories into the spellbinding book that bears only her imprint on the author’s page.

Reading one, two or all three of these biographies, one cannot help but be captivated by the presence of Beryl herself. Indeed she was a remarkable person who led an intriguing life. She was coquettish, endearing, outspoken, notorious and infuriating. Kenyaphones will find plenty about Kenya in the books. Each evokes the colonial era clearly, describes the hierarchy of social status and the intertwining of complicated lives. Additionally, the books convey some understanding of what was afoot politically during the Mau Mau era. The two later biographies also deal authoritatively with the horseracing scene as reflected in the political transition to independence and in the years afterwards.

All three books date from earlier years. I hope you can find them in your libraries.