PICKENS — Join the Village Branch Book Club in Pickens at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 16 to discuss Beryl Markham’s lyrical memoir “West with the Night.� Markham begins her autobiography with recollections from a childhood spent on a farm in British East Africa during the early 20th century. She goes on to document her first career as a racehorse trainer. But most intriguing is the detailing of Markham’s adventures learning to fly airplanes. She would become the first woman in East Africa to be granted a commercial pilot’s license, then the first woman to fly the Atlantic east to west. Readers bear witness to Markham’s daring, adventurous side as well as her quiet, reflective nature in this poetically written account of an extraordinary woman’s life.

Ernest Hemingway wrote in a letter to a friend, “she has written so well, and marvelously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer … she can write rings around all of us … I wish you would get it and read it because it is really a bloody wonderful book.�

The Village Branch Book Club meets regularly on the third Tuesday of each month and actively welcomes new members. Call or stop by any of the library locations to reserve a copy or visit www.pickens.lib.sc.us for more details.