Skip to main content

Too Close to the Sun by Sara Wheeler: book review



Too Close to the Sun – the Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton (2006, 2017 edition) is about the British adventurer in Kenya from 1911 to his death in 1931.

Born to an aristocratic family in 1887, Denys Finch Hatton attended Eton and Oxford, and was instantly popular for his good looks and charismatic personality. He was adored by both men and women. Lord Cranworth wrote that Denys was ‘the most impressive personality I have ever known.’

Why was he such an iconic figure? Not a lot was written about him, but he was immortalized in two famous novels. Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen) wrote about their relationship in her 1937 novel, Out of Africa (Finch Hatton was portrayed by Robert Redford in the movie). Beryl Markham also wrote about their relationhship in West with the Night (1942). Both women were his lovers: one the owner of the Karen Coffee Company, and the other a famous aviatrix.




Sara Wheeler attempts to discover why everyone loved him so much, yet he loved women fleetingly, small planes excitedly, and Africa intensely. He was the ultimate ‘big man restless.’

From England to Australia and finally to Wales, his ancestors were adventurers, failing at making a business in Australia during the Gold Rush. Denys Finch Hatton followed in their footsteps, but not to Australia. Instead, at the age of 24, he chose the opening frontier of Kenya in 1911, a land that captured his heart like no woman could.

He had an ‘unconventional outlook’ and he liked strong women. Although fearless as a hunter turned photographer and adventurer, he had a fear of boredom and commitment. He met Danish Karen Blixen when he was 31 and she was 33. He was her partner for 12 years, and in the final years he was also enchanted with the British flyer Beryl Markham, 15 years his junior. Finch Hatton too became an expert pilot – but he died on a flight on a clear day in May 1931.

Wheeler’s account adds fact to fiction, and reality to fantasy in an attempt to demystify the iconic Denys Finch Hatton. Yet it does not diminish his mysterious charisma – it serves only to add flesh to a family failing in business yet always looking for the next enterprise; a family trait Finch Hatton inherited. Although restless he was not reckless, although aloof he was not arrogant, and although he had a lifelong fear of commitment he was also deeply committed to his loyal friendships. Wheeler has excelled in highlighting his faults and finesse, his search for an escape from boredom, and his eternal search for a grand passion.









MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass
Post a Comment
Read more

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing
1 comment
Read more