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Too Close to the Sun

the Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton
Aug 15, 2016DorisWaggoner rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Having read "Out of Africa" and a historical novel based on the life of Beryl Markham, I got this bio of her lover Denys Finch Hatton. An impoverished aristocrat educated at Eton and Oxford, he hated being circumscribed by rules. The idea of Africa appealed, and he went to South Africa and Kenya. Before he could decide what to do with his life, he was caught up in WW I. While he hated soldiering, he was excellent at this part of the War that Europe ignored. During the War, he met Karen Blixen, known as Tania. She fell in love; he didn't. Her version, as written years later in "Out of Africa," and what he'd probably have written had he lived, would have been very different. This book shows them as extremely different, though they stayed friends when he took other lovers. After the War, he finally found his niche, guiding rich men on safari. He also discovered flying, for its own sake and to aid safaris. He learned that animal hunting would deplete the game before long, and "hunted" with camera, becoming very skilled. Two safaris with the Prince of Wales, who as King abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson, helped the conservation effort. The Prince supported Finch Hatton's efforts while he was still popular. I have "West with the Night" on hold, to complete the set. Still, since Isak Dinesen wrote her non-fiction "Out of Africa" partly as fiction, and Denys wrote almost nothing that survives, the real story of the three will never be entirely known.