Beryl Markham was one of this century s

most remarkable women. Taken as a

young child to British East Africa, where

she was left by her mother to be raised

by a father who trained thoroughbreds

for the Nairobi racing scene, Markham

grew up to become one of the most

daring and,courageous women of her

time. She grew up with the sons of

Nandi warriors as her playmates and

learned as a child to track game by

following spoor and scent. When she

was still in her teens, her father left

Africa. To support herself, she became

Africa s first female thoroughbred

trainer and later its first female bush

pilot.

Always well known to the great white

hunters of the time, and to their leisure-

class clientele, Beryl Markham would

twice go on to become a figure of inter-

national renown: in 1936, when she

became the first person ever to fly the

Atlantic solo the hard way--against the

headwinds--from England to North

America; and again in 1983, when her

1942 memoir, West with the Night, was

republished to worldwide literary ac-

claim. Straight On Till Morning is the first

biography of this truly remarkable

woman.