Author: Paula McLain
Publisher: Ballantine Books, 2015
My Source: Louisville Free Public Library
Like the author’s previous book, The Paris Wife, the
current book is another foray into historical fiction. The main character is
based on the real life Beryl (Clutterbuck) Markham, an English woman who grew
up in Kenya in the early 1900’s when it was a British colony.
When the story begins,
Beryl’s mother has just abandoned her to return to England with her brother,
leaving her father to raise her alone. Because she has no female role model
until later in her development, Beryl doesn’t learn “girl things” and thus grows
up in an unconventional way for a girl at that time. She instead learns how to
care for and train racehorses on her father’s horse farm and how to track and hunt
animals in the bush with her African friend, Kibii.
This was certain: I belonged on the
farm and in the bush. I was part of the thorn trees and the high jutting
escarpment, the bruised-looking hills thick with vegetation; the deep folds
between the hills, and the high cornlike grasses. I had come alive here, as if
I’d been given a second birth, and a truer one. This was my home, and though
one day it would all trickle through my fingers like so much red dust, for as
long as childhood lasted it was a heaven fitted exactly to me. A place I knew
by heart. The one place in the world I’d been made for.
When she is a teenager, Beryl’s father encourages her to
marry a local farmer much older than herself. The marriage fails and so begins the
string of unsuccessful romantic relationships she has throughout her life. As a
young woman, she learns through trial and error the social rules of the wealthy
adult colonists of the time and often raises an eyebrow or two with her decisions.
Beryl is continuously trying to figure out who she is and who she wants to be.
She eventually finds success as the first female horse trainer in Africa during
a time when most women didn’t even work outside the home. Beryl also becomes a
pilot and the first woman to fly from Africa to North America alone. In my
opinion, she could be considered a pioneer and a feminist.
I usually enjoy historical fiction, and this one did not
disappoint. The descriptions of the land were vivid and beautifully detailed,
but I felt the action of the story started out slowly. For me, it didn’t get
interesting until she became an adult and found herself in complicated
relationships with friends and lovers. As a female, I was inspired by the way
Beryl forged a new path for women. By the end of the story I was fully engaged.
For the readers interested in learning more about Beryl Markham, the author
added references to other books and movies about Beryl’s life, including a
memoir written by the woman herself.
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