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Brought to Kenya from England as a child and then abandoned by her mother, Beryl Markham is raised by both her father and the native Kipsigis tribe who share his estate. 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. But even the wild child must grow up, and when everything Beryl knows and trusts dissolves, she is catapulted into a string of disastrous relationships. Beryl forges her own path as a horse trainer, and her uncommon style attracts the eye of the Happy Valley set, a decadent, bohemian community of European expats who also live and love by their own set of rules. But it’s the ruggedly charismatic Denys Finch Hatton who ultimately helps Beryl navigate the uncharted territory of her own heart. The intensity of their love reveals Beryl’s truest self and her fate: to fly.
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There is no question that Beryl’s story is incredible and fascinating and enthralling. I thoroughly enjoyed reading and exploring it. However, this book glosses over some of the most interesting and important parts of the story. Here is a story that could uniquely tell the complex story of colonization. As the author states in the acknowledgments, Beryl only ever loved two men in her life, her father and Ruta. She has a lifelong friendship and partnership with a native Kenyan as well as close ties to colonizers who see Africans as less than themselves. However in this story that relationship is barely explored. The entire idea of colonization is barely explored, with only brief mentions of other people being involved in the politics of it. I lived Beryl’s story, but it seems irresponsible in this day and age to essentially romanticize colonization without exploring any of the complexities and horrors that it caused.
0Didn't like, was bored, read for book club. I just didn't care about the main character, nor any of the other rich white party-goers. Would have been more interested in her horse-training or flying, not a ramble of her life.
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