Circling the Sun by Paula McLain FIC Mcl

This is historical fiction which I always enjoy.  It is about a woman named Beryl Markham who led a life that was a lot more exciting than my life!  With her family she left England as a child and grew up in Kenya on a farm.  When she was young her mother took her brother and went back to England.  Beryl remained with her father.  She loved the outdoors and working with her father as a race horse trainer.  She resisted all attempts by her father to give her an education and become a lady.

When she was 17 her father's fortunes took a downturn and he lost the farm.  Because she didn't want to leave Kenya to go with her father she accepted a marriage proposal to an older man (she was 17) which was the first of many bad relationships.

Beryl not only became a well-respected horse trainer and later she broke records as a pilot.  It seemed as if there were very few calm times during her life.  One of the things that contributed to the turmoil was her passion for a safari hunter named Denys Finch Hutton.  It was complicated because he was involved in a long time relationship with a woman named Karen Bixen.  You probably don't recognize the name but she was a writer and under the name Isak Dinesen she wrote her memoir - Out of Africa!   So as I was reading this book I had a mental image of that movie.  (Mostly I was thinking about Robert Redford who played the part of Denys!!)
     A great read!

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