Straight on Till Morning: The Biography of Beryl Markham

The republication of West with the Night in 1983 rekindled interest in Beryl Markham, who wrote it in 1936 after her solo flight across the Atlantic. This is the story of a person who lived intenselyshe died at her Kenya home in 1986early on as a wild child raised by a father whose wife left him in Africa with their daughter when she moved back to England. As a teenager and adult, the pioneer aviator made news. Married three times, divorced for infidelity, she had many lovers, among them: Bror Blixen, her friend Isak (Karen) Dinesen's husband, Karen's lover Denys Finch-Hatton and Prince Henry, brother of King George VI. Finch-Hatton and another intimate, Tom Campbell-Black, taught Markham to fly and, ironically, they were both to die in plane crashes. If Lovell, a British freelance writer, intrudes more than necessary into the story, this is nevertheless an engrossing biography of a legendary beauty and achiever who lived fully her 84 years. Photos not seen by PW. (September 24)