West with the Night by Beryl Markham

genre: memoir

Beryl's memoir of her life in Africa before the Second World War, both as a pilot and as a horsewoman, is a look into a place and time that no longer exist. We are with her in her childhood in the bush, living on a farm with her father and spending her days hunting and playing with her dog. It is a wild life, where danger genuinely lurks in the tall grass and where Beryl's own wild spirit is allowed to fly - in more ways than one.

What a unique life! I enjoyed the anecdotal stories and imagining living during this time of change, what guts Beryl had to have to do the things she did. Beryl is a thoughtful memoirist, if not sometimes blatantly revealing her own prejudices. The relationships between the colonizers and the colonized is a complex one here where there is, maybe, true care but also clearly a hierarchical understanding of status. I can appreciate the ways she broke barriers and found ways to pursue the things she loved. I will say, there is little here about personal relationships unless it is with a mentor or a childhood friend. It's not that kind of story. It is about animals and hunting, airplanes and the flying of them. The hunting parts were not my favorite but overall, I am once again grateful for Book Club that brought a new book into my hands. Three and a half stars.