Beryl Markham (maiden name Clutterbuck)

Beryl is the story's main character. She's a strong woman who becomes the first female racehorse trainer in Kenya and the first woman to make a solo flight across the Atlantic from east to west. At the age of 4 her mother abandons her and this action serves to shape her life in many ways.

When she realizes that her mother has gone for good her farther consoles her as best as he can and then sets her on her own two feet. That, in addition to the fact that she spent her early years learning how to hunt with African boys training to be warriors, sets her on a path of practicing the art of survival. She marries her first husband, Jock, not out of love, but because she saw him as her best option when her father announces that he is leaving and...