Straight On Till Morning: The Biography of Beryl Markham by Mary S. Lovell

Summary (from the publisher): Beryl Markham made history in 1936 as the first person ever to fly the Atlantic solo from England to North America. Her 1942 memoir, West with the Night, was republished in 1983 to worldwide literary acclaim. This compelling biography explores Markham's public and private lives: her independent childhood in Kenya, her achievement as Africa's first female bush pilot and thoroughbred trainer, and her turbulent love affairs with Prince Henry, Bror Blixen, Denys Finch-Hatton, and Leopold Stokowski. Straight On Till Morning is the captivating story of a woman unbound by convention or fear. 

Review: Raised in Kenya by her horse-training father, Beryl Markham received worldwide acclaim for her daring 1936 flight, when she became the first person to ever fly solo from England to North America. She was part of the pioneers of aviation that included Charles Lindburgh and Amelia Earhart.  Later, her memoir garnered worldwide acclaim. In this biography, Lovell explores the fascinating woman behind the headlines. Beryl was fiercely independent, casual in her love affairs and relationship with money, had a special gift for animals, and was striking and particular about her personal appearance. Having been raised in the bush with only her father and servants, she was confident in her physical strength and abilities and became Africa's first female bush pilot and thoroughbred trainer and had multiple love affairs, including one with Prince Henry. An absent mother at best and married three times, she had multitudes of friends, despite her fiery temper and occasional ethically very gray practices. In short, she was a captivating woman who defied convention and seemed to have no fear. 

So much of what made Beryl the way she was stems from her childhood. Her mother followed her father to Kenya but then shortly afterward returned to England, leaving young Beryl behind. Beryl was described by all who knew her as a child as wild and unfettered by conventional English customs. "Her necessary intimacy with the African families who lived in squatter villages on the farm caused her to become almost more African than European in her thinking and attitudes" (17). Although later in life she was meticulous about her appearance and quite refined when she wanted to be, th  is childhood spent out of doors with no mother to mind her shaped her choices. 

Later in her life, there was a great controversy over whether or not Beryl herself wrote her famous memoir. Mary S. Lovell spends significant time outlining the many reasons why she believes that Beryl did indeed write the memoir herself and not her husband at the time, who merely acted as editor. If anything, Lovell seemed exasperated at the need to even dwell on this debate, which speaks a lot to how preposterous she finds the claims in light of the evidence of Beryl herself writing the book. "But is it necessary to labour the point? Has not this controversy already been given more exposure than is warranted by the flimsy evidence?" (332). 

Mary S. Lovell is one of my favorite biographers and this is the sixth of her books I have read. She did a meticulous job of tracking down as many resources and people who knew Beryl as possible. I particularly appreciated that Lovell was able to talk personally with Beryl before her death and was granted access to her papers. 

Stars: 4

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