At the age of 18, Beryl Markham, then Clutterbuck, was the first woman in Africa to be granted a racehorse trainer's licence; she was still active as a trainer until her death in 1986. She took up flying in 1931, inventing big game hunting by air and in September 1936 she made world headlines by becoming the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic from east to west. This, her only book, was first published in 1942, and reveals her life as an innovator and adventurer.