Circling the Sun

As a young girl, Beryl Markham was brought to Kenya from Britain by parents dreaming of a new life. The dream quickly turned sour, and her mother returned home; Beryl was brought up by her father. By the age of 16 Beryl had been catapulted into a disastrous marriage - but she took charge of her own destiny. She left her husband and became the first woman to hold a professional racehorse trainer's licence. After falling in with the hedonistic Happy Valley set, Beryl soon became embroiled in a complex love triangle with the writer Karen Blixen and big game-hunter Denys Finch Hatton. It was this unhappy affair which awakened Beryl to her truest self, and to her fate: to fly.