Paula McLain's latest novel, narrating the life and times of pioneering aviator and horse racer Beryl Markham, is labeled as historical fiction that transports readers "to colonial Kenya in the 1920s. Popularly regarded as “a kind of Circe” (to quote Isak Dinesen biographer Judith Thurman), the young woman McLain explores owns her mistakes (at least privately) and is more boxed in by class, gender assumptions, and self-doubt than her reputation as aviatrix, big game hunter, and femme fatale suggests. In a brilliant move, McLain hardly focuses at all on the trans-Atlantic flight that made the aviator so famous, choosing instead to explore what happened before: Markham's unorthodox childhood in Kenya, a failed marriage, and a star-crossed love affair with Denys Finch Hatton. Knowing how the novel romanticized a painful chapter in Kenyan history made this an uncomfortable read that felt about as real as a Harlequin novel. We have published a new cookies policy, which you should read to find out more about the cookies we use.

But it's the ruggedly charismatic Denys Finch Hatton who ultimately helps Beryl navigate the uncharted territory of her own heart. After a sexual encounter that is more than a little predatory on Finch's part, he ignores her affections, causing Beryl to become obsessed with him. Beryl's father moved from England to Africa for a new start based on a paper flyer offering "Cheap imperial land, and an idea [that] had latched on to him that wouldn't let go. Circling the Sun by Paula McLain is about the childhood and early adulthood of Beryl Clutterback Markham who was born in England, but shortly after, her family moved to British East Africa (Kenya) to establish a farm and a horse training business.In Chapter 47 she says she had learned, "painfully" that she had to be honest in her second marriage. Detroit in the 1920s proved to be the Paris of the West for many – including Catherine McIntosh and Robert Sage. The books featured on this site are aimed primarily at readers aged 13 or above and therefore you must be 13 years or over to sign up to our newsletter. Circling the Sun takes us from the brittle glamour of the 1920s Happy Valley set, fuelled by gin and adultery, to the loneliness of life as a scandalous divorcee; from the spectacular beauty of the Kenyan landscape to the manicured lawns of Nairobi’s Muthaiga Club. She was also the “other woman” in the love triangle made famous by Out of Africa , the memoir written by Karen Blixon (under the name Isak Dinesen).

com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. I read Beryl Markham‘s memoir, West with The Night years ago, so I knew a bit about the life of the amazing woman who was the first ever (male or female) to fly solo across the Atlantic to North America. Beryl’s descriptions of her African childhood, colonial Kenya in all its seasons, and her extraordinary adventures fairly leap off the page—but more striking to me is the spirit behind the words. Her unconventional upbringing transforms Beryl into a bold young woman with a fierce love of all things wild and an inherent understanding of nature's delicate balance.Lale proves himself an operator, at once cagey and courageous: As the Tätowi erer, he is granted special privileges and manages to smuggle food to starving prisoners. Many of the characters will be familiar to readers and movie goers because many of the characters are the same people that author Karen Blixen wrote about in her memoir Out of Africa which was later made into the widely popular and beautiful film. Beryl rallied and followed in her father’s footsteps as a racehorse trainer (she was the first woman ever to hold a professional racehorse trainer’s licence).