W. W. Norton & Company Straight on Till Morning: The Life of Beryl Markham

The heroine of the book is a remarkable woman in many ways. Her lack of maternal instincts aside, she was courageous, tenacious and a survivor in a vastly male-dominated world and was far ahead of her time. The writing is superlative and the author knows how to hold the reader's interest throughout. Thoroughly enjoyable.

"Straight On Till Morning" is a highly intelligent, directly informed biography of Beryl Markham, a quite astonishing woman. The author spent weeks with Beryl in Africa, when Beryl was 83, talking to her and having access to private papers. She writes with fine skill, and organization of data from a long and involved, complicated and highly exciting life. The book would be a page turner, if someone wanted to hurry, but for us normal readers, the colorful prose of a mesmerizing life is delightful enough to slow down, and even to reread as we go along. Surely five stars.

Hatte vorher "West with the Night" gelesen und das Buch geliebt. Straight on till morning ist eine Super-Ergänzung dazu. Beryl Markham hat ein unglaublich interessantes Leben geführt und war in allem was sie tat sehr erfolgreich. Und das auf eine sehr bescheidene Art.

I bought this book as a (pardon the play on words) book-end to Beryl Markham's autobiography entitled 'West With The Night". Beryl had a life full of aviation firsts, including being being the first woman to fly non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean from east to west. If you have a love of aviation, deeply admire a life well lived, barnstorming and pioneer aviators then this book is for you. She was a real aviatrix along with Pancho Barnes, and really did know flight as opposed to a more 'familiar' female name who managed to ground loop a plane causing enormous structural damage and ended up losing a plane in the south Pacific - which ultimately cost her and her navigator (Fred Noonan) their lives. Having read excerpts online, I'm looking forward to reading this after I finish Beryl Markham's book.

Surprising adventuress