'Beryl Markham lived out past the edges of herself, and that boldness and sheer originality come through on every page of West With the Night. Kenya's early frontier - harsh and romantic - flickers to life, as do Beryl's many adventures, but it's her unconquerable spirit that truly inspired and transported me. Her life deserves a second look and this book - a masterpiece - its rightful place in history' Paula McLain Unconventional, passionate and couragous, Beryl Markham was one of the most extraordinary women of the twentieth century: as a child in Kenya she spoke Swahili and hunted barefoot with the Murani tribe; as a woman she was a society beauty who courted scandal, a celebrated racehorse trainer, and a famous pioneering aviator. 'Written so well, and marvellously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer . . . [She] can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves writers . . . It is really a bloody wonderful book' Ernest Hemingway 'West With the Night is the sort of book that makes you think human beings can do anything . . . When she was a mere