Beryl Markham

Born in England, Beryl (Clutterbuck) Markham moved to a farm near the Great Rift Valley in Kenya (then British East Africa) with her family when she was four years old. She spent an adventurous childhood among native Africans and became the first licensed female horse trainer in Kenya.She continued to be a non-conformist and trailblazer in both her professional and personal lives, marrying several times (and having numerous affairs). She also became an accomplished pilot, and was one of the first to fly solo and non-stop across the Atlantic from east to west (against prevailing winds) on September 4, 1936.Her most famous book is the memoir "West With The Night", which went out of print shortly after its publication in 1942, until it was rediscovered by a California restaurateur in 1982 and achieved new popularity upon republication in 1983, during the final years of her life.