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)

Remarkable! You can’t make this kind of story up...

I rarely write a full review but am compelled to make an exception with this book. The remarkable story of a remarkable life of a remarkable person. She reminisced with a frank candor of a very special person who never thought of herself as particularly spectacular, but more fortunate to have had the opportunity to pursue life to the fullest in her own way.

Hats off to Julie Harris for her narration. She brings Beryl to life. Made me feel as if I were sitting with her drinking gin and tonics while she rolled out the story of her life.

I highly recommend this book to anyone with a sense of adventure. Particularly if you like a true story that draws you in and holds you like the best of fiction novels.

You have to read this book

Again, YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK. Don't hesitate, just get it. I have become so enamored of Beryl Markham since I started this book (I'm a little over halfway thru) that I also bought the biography written about her.

Ms. Markham was up for a Pulitzer Prize for this, but lost to Ernest Hemingway - who was quoted as saying that the prize should have gone to her because she wrote circles around him. The reason she didn't get it was because she was married to a screenwriter at the time, and there was speculation that he either authored it or co-wrote it.

I wish she had won it. The prose is absolutely stunning. This not the typical autobiography. She basically tells stories from her life...each fascinating story starts out casual and easy, then it grabs you by the seat of your pants and you'll find yourself on edge to find out what happens next.

Thanks to her, I feel that I've been to Africa and know a part of it that no one else does - she makes it so real. I wish I could have met her!

A happy error

I purchased this book to learn about Amelia Aerhart but discovered another aviatrix Beryl Markham. This woman was a great horsewoman, an outstanding pilot and feminist but most of all she is an exquisite wrtier!

Best Book I’ve Read This Year!

I knew next to nothing about the book or it’s author. So it was one marvelous unexpected enjoyment after another. I kept saying to myself as I read ‘Surely a writer as dazzlingly gifted as this has written many books!’ I bought 3 copies to send to friends. Highest recommendation.

the book reminds me of Hemingway

great book I enjoyed the story about the elephants how the females protected the males from the hunters

Engrossing memoir

A beautifully written book about an adventurous woman who lived her true life. For readers who enjoy adventure.

Wonderful

I loved this account of Beryl’s Africa. Felt as though I were there. Brought back many fond memories. A time long gone. One can’t always go back but stories bring remembrances forward.

Kept my interest throughout the read.

Would you listen to West with the Night again? Why?

Flying over Africa and other countries were described with enough detail to make you feel you were in the cockpit. It is one of those books that you could listen to again.

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

I would compare this book equal to Out of Africa.

What about Julie Harris’s performance did you like?

Narrator Julie Harris has tremendous talent identifying each character easily.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The suspense of being in flight without a light to guide her and her relationship with the people of Africa made this a moving experience.

Brilliant Woman, Brilliant Writing

A thoroughly entertaining view into a time and place - Africa, 1930s. But more than that an interior view of an extraordinary woman. I dont understand how a woman who had a sense of and respect for elephants could have scouted for hunting parties. Still, this is one of my favorite books and Julie Harris's narration does it justice.

Unparalleled literature

It is hard to write a review when I feel speechless from having listened to west with the night. The only descriptive english writing I have ever read which compares with this story was some of the scene setting in Steinbeck's East of Eden. By comparison west with the night is more grand, global and majestic. As a pilot, I was completely taken with the story. Yes, Saint-Exupery has written with a similar grandeur that lifts the reader above the earth, but Markham exceeds Saint-Exupery in every way. What a shame this book had to end. Chris