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It's hard to fault her for the time and attitudes she was brought up in. And it's clear from what she wrote, and what others have written since, that she was raised rather more by Africa than by her father. And certainly her "governess" had no impact at all except to cause her to live in a separate building from her father from a very early age.
As for accuracy? In re-reading this book for this discussion, and also reading the two somewhat reliable biographies, it's clear to me that the stories are, in their essentials, true. Are some embellished? Probably. But the heart and intent of them are true, IMO.
Certainly the story of Paddy is true in all important parts, though the actual amount of damage to her is unclear. On that, however, we have only to look at the events in the Las Vegas ring several years ago to be reminded how very much "tame" big cats are still very much wild animals.
As for the flying -- this is what amazes me. At a time when "instruments" were a compass and little else, she would fly across hours of African landscape to a spot with little if anything in the way of distinguishing landmarks. The mental calculations of distance, time, speed and leeway required are non-trivial. And she couldn't just plug it all in to her HP calculator, much less her GPS.
She was the first woman with a commercial pilot's license, and the first person to fly from England to North America the hard way. Oh, and by the way, flew back and forth to England from Africa more than the once described in the book.
Ultimately, however, what matters to me about the book, and why I nominated it for this month, is that it is first and foremost about Africa at a particular point in time. OK, not the Africa of the Masai, Nandi or Kikuyu, certainly, but certainly still Africa. It's her love of Africa that comes through everywhere. And her ability to tell a story is undoubted. This really isn't a story about Beryl Markham as much as it's a story about Kenya at the time of British East Africa.
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