Denys Finch Hatton Books

Denys George Finch Hatton (1887 - 1931) was a big game hunter who turned professional in 1925. He is probably most known for his relationships with Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen), being immortalised in her book 'Out Of Africa' and the aviatrix Beryl Markham. He, himself, did not write a book about his life or times but there are several biographies about him and he features in all the books by the women who knew him.

Books About Denys Finch Hatton:

Sara Wheeler

Too Close To The Sun: The Life And Times Of Denys Finch Hatton by Sara Wheeler (2006). Conservationist, scholar, soldier, white hunter and fabled lover, Denys Finch Hatton was an aristocrat of leonine nonchalance. After a dazzling career at Eton and Oxford, he sailed in 1910 for British East Africa. There he first had an affair with with Karen Blixen and then the glamorous aviatrix Beryl Markham. This is a story of big guns and small planes, princes from England and sultans from Zanzibar, marauding lions, syphilis, self-destruction and the tragedy of the human heart. Kindle Version

Errol Trzebinski

Silence Will Speak: A Study Of The Life Of Denys Finch Hatton And His Relationship With Karen Blixen by Errol Trzebinski (1977) is a full-length biography of Denys Finch Hatton who was Isak Dinesen's friend and lover in Kenya in the 1920s as well as the friend of aviatrix Beryl Markham.

The Lives Of Beryl Markham by Errol Trzebinski (1993) is the biography of the hauntingly beautiful, tough as steel, totally amoral and immensely brave, Beryl Markham who inspired lust, resentment and admiration and was chased by scandal wherever she went. Married three times, she counted Edward Prince of Wales, his brother the Duke of Gloucester and Denys Finch Hatton among her lovers. Capping notoriety with fame, in 1936 Beryl Markham became the first woman to fly solo west across the Atlantic, the feat described in her bestselling memoir 'West with the Night'.
All Errol Trzebinski Books

Karen Blixen

Out Of Africa by Karen Blixen (1937) is an account of the author's experiences on a coffee-farm in Kenya and her love affair with Denys Finch Hatton. After her divorce from Bror Blixen in 1925, Finch Hatton moved into her house and began his professional hunting career.


Out of Africa Audio Book
All Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen Books
Out Of Africa DVD

Beryl Markham

West With The Night by Beryl Markham (1942) is an exceptional autobiography filled with a strong spirit and fascinating events. Beryl Markham was raised by her father on a large farm in British East Africa in the early 20th century. As a child she preferred spear hunting with the natives to her school lessons. At 17, when her father lost their farm and went to Peru, she chose to stay in Africa and began a highly successful career as a race horse trainer. In her 20s she gave up horses and started flying airplanes, becoming the first woman in East Africa to be granted a commercial pilot's license, then the first woman to fly the Atlantic from east to west.
West With The Night Audio Book
All Beryl Markham Books

Genesta Hamilton

Lady Genesta Mary Hamilton (1899 - 1990) settled in Kenya in 1923 after a hunting safari with her first husband, Arthur McNeill Farquhar, when Bror Blixen being their white hunter. She subsequently divorced this husband and married Lord Delamere's general manager, Ernest Caswell Long (1892 - 1950) who was known as 'Boy' and a well-known member of the Happy Valley set. She built an extensive house and stable on the shores of Lake Nakuru. She later divorced Long and married Lord Claud David Hamilton (1907 - 1968).

A Stone's Throw: Travels From Africa In Six Decades by Genesta Hamilton (1986) are extracts from the author's diaries between 1914 and 1981. Living in Kenya and friends with Denys Finch-Hatton, Bror and Karen Blixen and Lord Errol, she also travelled to Spain, Germany, Russia and Eastern Europe.

Princes Of Zinj: The Rulers Of Zanzibar by Genesta Hamilton (1957) is a colourful account of the ruling family of Zanzibar. 'Zinj' was a name used by early Muslim geographers to refer to part of the south-east coast, or Swahili Coast, of Africa and to its native inhabitants. "The Zinj of Zanzibar are long forgotten, like the Portuguese rulers who followed them, but the line founded by the great Seyyid Said, Sultan of Muscat, flourishes still in the Island of Spices after well over a century".

Fragments From Africa by Genesta Long (1937) is a collection of short stories about Kenya, the expatriates, the Maasai and the Kikuyu. This early book was published under her married name 'Genesta Long'.

In The Wake Of Da Gama: The Story Of Portuguese Pioneers In East Africa 1497-1729 by Genesta Hamilton (1951) is the account of how the Portuguese integrated with the natives and Arabs on the Swahili coast of Africa. It includes the Portuguese rise to power there after the first 1498 voyage of Vasco da Gama who was to discover a sea route to India. The Portuguese established a presence on the Kenyan coastline by establishing naval bases that would give Portugal control of the Indian Ocean - it was not their goal to settle Kenya.

Gretchen Cron

The Roaring Veldt by Gretchen Cron (1930). Accompanied by her husband Herman, Cron describes several hunting trips to the Serengeti Plains of Tanganyika in the 1920s. She describes exciting hunting encounters with elephant, rhino and lion, with a particularly hair raising account of stalking a bull buffalo dubbed the 'Black Shadow.' There are additional descriptions of hunting leopard and kongoni. Herman Cron battled a severe bout with malaria and the opportune arrival of Denys Finch-Hatton helped save his life.

Frederick Patterson

Frederick Beck Patterson (1892 - 1981) was an American hunter and business man who took over presidency of the National Cash Register Company from his father in 1921.

African Adventures by Frederick Patterson (1928) who hunted with Denys Finch Hatton for lions, elephants and rhino in 1927, also with Major Dickerson. Patterson brought back many specimans for the Dayton Museum of National History and also took much motion picture films showing African life. This is of the few books to have hunting photos of Denys Finch-Hatton.

J A Hunter witnessed the aircraft crash that killed Denys Finch Hatton and writes about it in 'Hunter's Tracks'

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Page Updated: Oct 2020