The Recommended Reading Path
Beryl Markham's literary output is small but incredibly potent. Rather than navigating a massive series, readers of her work can enjoy a straightforward journey through her life and shorter fiction. Here is the best way to experience her books:
1. Start with the Masterpiece: West with the Night (1942)
Whether you are interested in historical memoir, aviation history, or beautiful travel writing, West with the Night is the mandatory starting point. This acclaimed memoir recounts her childhood in colonial Kenya, her training of racehorses, her adventures as a bush pilot scouting game from the air, and her historic 1936 solo Atlantic flight. It is the core text that establishes her voice, and it is the book that Ernest Hemingway famously declared was "bloody wonderful" and so well-written that it made him feel ashamed of his own writing.
2. Expand with the Short Stories: The Splendid Outcast (1987)
After finishing her memoir, your next stop should be The Splendid Outcast: Beryl Markham's African Stories. This collection was compiled posthumously by biographer Mary S. Lovell. The book gathers short stories that Markham wrote in the 1940s and published individually in popular magazines like The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, and Cosmopolitan. These pieces delve back into her experiences with horses, aviation, and African landscapes, serving as the perfect literary companion to her main memoir.
3. Share with Younger Readers: The Good Lion (2005)
If you want to share Markham's adventures with children, look for The Good Lion. Illustrated by Don Brown, this children's picture book adapts a true childhood story from West with the Night. It tells the story of her encounter with a neighbors' "tame" lion named Paddy, capturing the raw, exciting, and sometimes dangerous realities of growing up in East Africa.
Understanding the "Chronicles Abroad" and Other Anthologies
When searching bibliographies of Beryl Markham, you will often see titles like Cairo, Venice, Prague, Hong Kong, St. Petersburg, and Istanbul listed under her publication order. This is a common source of confusion for new readers. Markham did not write a travel series about these cities.
These titles are actually volumes of a city-themed travel anthology series called Chronicles Abroad, published by Chronicle Books in the mid-1990s. Beryl Markham's writing (specifically excerpts from her flying journeys in the Middle East and Africa) was included as a contribution to the Cairo: Tales of the City volume, alongside other famous travelers and writers. Her presence in that single volume has led database crawlers to accidentally attribute the entire series to her. You do not need to hunt down the other city volumes if you are looking for her writing.
Similarly, the 2003 anthology Heart Shots: Women Write About Hunting features an excerpt of her hunting stories ("I May Have to Shoot Him") originally taken from West with the Night.
What to Know Before You Start
Before diving into Markham's world, it is helpful to keep a couple of historical and literary contexts in mind:
- The Authorship Controversy: Over the years, biographers and critics have debated whether Markham wrote West with the Night entirely by herself or if she had extensive assistance (or even complete ghostwriting) from her third husband, ghostwriter and journalist Raoul Schumacher. While debate exists, the consensus remains that the unique experiences, observations, and core voice are undeniably Markham's.
- Colonial Context: Her stories take place in early 20th-century colonial Kenya. She lived, hunted, and interacted closely with local tribesmen, but her perspective is still that of a British settler in a colonial era. Readers should expect the typical terminology and attitudes of that period.
- Modern Biographies: If you finish her works and want to learn more about her complex, rule-breaking life, you can read Straight on Till Morning by Mary S. Lovell or the biographical novel Circling the Sun by Paula McLain, which dramatizes Markham's life.