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Book summary and reviews of Too Close to the Sun by Sara Wheeler

Too Close to the Sun by Sara Wheeler

Too Close to the Sun

The Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton

by Sara Wheeler

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  • Published:
  • Apr 2007
    320 pages
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Book Summary

Denys Finch Hatton was adored by women and idolized by men. A champion of Africa, legendary for his good looks, his charm, and his prowess as a soldier, lover, and hunter, Finch Hatton inspired Karen Blixen to write the unforgettable stories in Out of Africa. Now esteemed British biographer Sara Wheeler tells the truth about this extraordinarily charismatic adventurer.

Born to an old aristocratic family that had gambled away most of its fortune, Finch Hatton grew up in a world of effortless elegance and boundless power. Tall and graceful, with the soul of a poet and an athlete’s relaxed masculinity, he became a hero without trying at Eton and Oxford. In 1910, searching for novelty and danger, Finch Hatton arrived in British East Africa and fell in love – with a continent, with a landscape, with a way of life that was about to change forever.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"In this thoughtful, satisfying work, she masterfully captures his allure through the memories of others and through her deft interpretation of both his East African and British milieus in the tumultuous years surrounding WWI." - PW.

"A tremendous portrayal of this transitional paradigm to modernism. " - Kirkus.

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A photo of Denys Finch Hatton - a little different to the image most of us probably have of him from Robert Redford's portrayal in Out of Africa!

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