West with the Night

By: Beryl Markham

Narrated by: Julie Harris

Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

West with the Night is the story of a remarkable woman molded and shaped by many things: the African jungle, a certain dog, horses, airplanes, friendships with white men and black. There is no life, no story quite like it.

©1942, 1983 Beryl Markham. Recorded by arrangement with North Point Press, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC (P)2003 The Arthur and Luce Klein Audio Collection, The Yale Collection of Historical Sound Recordings, Yale University Music Library

Critic reviews

"Julie Harris' reading of aviatrix Beryl Markham's biography and celebration of Africa is an essential audiobook. Enjoy the magic of the spoken word and Harris' lovely performance." (AudioFile)

Perfect narration

Julie Harris does the impossible—she transfers the beautiful poetry of Markam’s written word with just the right level of emotion and variety to make this a perfect vocal performance.

Amazing glimpse into a unique time of life

I love stories from this region and era, but was floored by the wordcraft of this author, who Hemingway rightly praised. I was bereft to learn this short collection of stories is the only writing she ever did.
Reader is old fashioned, you can even hear her slow, pause, and turn the pages, which for me added to the experience.

Amazing and beautiful!

How can such a remarkable woman be so little known?? Her love of Africa shines through and I thrilled to listen along to her life story.

Fantastic novel! Excellent narrator!

Beryl's memoir was on a recommended reading list for an upcoming safari to East Africa. Beautifully written, engaging, suspenseful..one of my all time favorite literary works..and the narrator was excellent! She embodied the very essence of Beryl and she brought forth just the right amount of drama at the right moments. This audiobook is a 10!

Wonderful book.

Wonderful book. A great combination of history, geography, and aviation. One of the few books I could not stop listening to.

Facebook tells only the part of the story about this absolutely amazing woman.

Nothing. It could’ve told about her time in Buckingham Palace and more about this amazing woman what she chose to tell in her own words is more than enough.

Excellent

I found the book fabulous - it has a wonderful description of the culture of native peoples as well as of pure adventure.

Amazing!

I confess when I bought this book I had no idea it was a memoir. I only noticed half-way through that there was definitely no plot, just a series of incredible and beautifully written stories about one woman's marvelous life. A life so interesting, I might add that I began to question again whether this was memoir or fiction. Surely, I thought, no real person ever led a life this fascinating and lived to tell about it! Ms. Markham was a female Hemingway--in life and on the page! There is apparently some controversy as to whether she actually wrote the prose herself, but you shouldn't let that deter you from enjoying it. Whoever wrote this meant to move, uplift, and entertain the reader, and she (or he) succeeded in spades!

Plus, Julie Harris' narration is flawless!! I cannot vouch for the authenticity of her African pronunciations, but they certainly sounded believable, and her voices for other characters made me feel like I was watching an old movie, warm and genuine. Her particular accent and slightly masculine tone is ideally suited to for the first-person narration of Ms. Markham's truly extraordinary life.

I don't get disappointed in narrators very often..

What did you like best about West with the Night? What did you like least?

I read this book many years ago & it remains a favorite of mine. The writing is positively lyrical & Beryl Markham's life is so fascinating. She's also linked with so many legendary characters from her time period. However, Julie Harris tries to sabotage the reading at every page!!! Her voice is very pleasant & I know she's a fine actress, but it's almost as if she's reading another language that she doesn't understand!! She pauses where there are no commas, she breaks up sentences, she ruins the gorgeous, almost musically written lines. It's almost criminal! It's as if they handed her the book (after she climbed a long flight of stairs) & they took the first take of her reading it for the first time. I even heard a page turn a couple of times!!! This is not up to the high standard we're all accustomed to from Books on Tape or Recorded Books. & why an American to read a British African woman's story? If it weren't for the exquisite writing, I would have abandoned listening.

What other book might you compare West with the Night to and why?

It's unique. But, of course, Out of Africa is the obvious. However, Karen Blixen HATED Beryl Markham. They had too many lovers in common.

Would you be willing to try another one of Julie Harris’s performances?

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!!!!!!

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Of course. Terrible that it hasn't been done.

Any additional comments?

I would highly recommend you READ this book, before listening (by a better narrator) to it. You need to pause & savor the remarkable lines, insights & characters of this wonderful story.

I will READ this book instead

I was really looking forward to the book after reading Circling the Sun, but I couldn't make it through the first chapter. The reader spoke so quickly & didn't feel authentic.
In my opinion the person reading can make or break the story.
There was no feeing, no dialect, no pace.
I will read this book because I'm interested in this story.
If you have listen to Circling the Sun before this book, you will see what I mean.