Book 22: "West With the Night" by Beryl Markhan

[kittiwake]

Night flying over charted country by aid of instruments and radio guidance can still be a lonely business, but to fly in unbroken darkness without even the cold companionship of a pair of ear-phones or the knowledge that somewhere ahead are lights and life and a well-marked airport is more than lonely. It is at times unreal to the point where the existence of other people seems not even a reasonable probability. The hills, the forests, the rocks, and the plains are one with the darkness, and the darkness is infinite. The earth is no more your planet than a distant star - if a star is shining; the plane is your planet and you are its sole inhabitant.

I like the fact that it is a memoir rather than a chronological autobiography. One story leads into another, with digressions thrown in as they occur to her, such as the time a leopard abducted her dog from the bottom of her bed. I also rather like the fact that Beryl Markham uses Swahili (presumably) words without explanation, and writes some passages in the present tense, as it seems to make it more immediate.

She never mentions her mother (who went back to England shortly after the family moved to Kenya) once, and she does seem rather unlucky when it comes to being being attacked by animals!

Nottingham Round the World Reading Challenge
KENYA