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).

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