Here is a sample of some beautiful writing by a heroic woman—Beryl Markham,[1] who grew up in eastern Africa during the colonial era that is the backdrop for Bentari. Beryl Markham’s book West With the Night[2] is so beautifully written that Ernest Hemingway lavishly praised her writing skill.

From West With the Night, ch. 7—“Praise God for the Blood of the Bull”:

“The distant roar of a waking lion rolls against the stillness of the night, and we listen. It is the voice of Africa bringing memories that do not exist in our minds or in our hearts—perhaps not even in our blood. It is out of time, but it is there, and it spans a chasm whose other side we cannot see.”

Ah, me. Thanks to Beryl Markham we can see. We see Africa! We see the colonial caste system that she clearly disdained. And we see how heroes cannot be constrained or defined by a caste or by a sex. We see a timeless struggle. We see animals and humans that never cease their efforts to climb, to rise, to achieve. We see. We approve.

Lion photo (with apologies to the unknown photographer) found online at: http://www.freelionpictures.com/wallpaper/Illust-MaleLion2-Ferocious-Out_of_paper_wall.jpg.html

[1] Beryl Markham became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic from east to west. Read more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl_Markham

[2] For study questions, see the Austin Chapter Reader’s Guide at the Story Circle Network: http://www.storycircle.org/Reading_Circle/questions/9902.html