cover image The Man Whom Women Loved: The Life of Bror Blixen

The Man Whom Women Loved: The Life of Bror Blixen

Ulf Aschan. St. Martin's Press, $15.95 (237pp) ISBN 978-0-312-00064-6

Maintaining that his godfather Baron Bror Blixen was depicted unfairly in the film Out of Africa, Aschan here presents a beguiling biography of ""Blix'' (1886-1946), son of Danish nobles raised on the family estate in Sweden. Fond but candid, Aschan recalls the baron as roistering, bibulous and randy, a womanizer more chased than chaser. Blix wed ``Tanne'' (Nobelist Isak Dinesen) in 1914, settling in Kenya on a coffee plantation that went bankrupt in 1921. The baroness returned to Denmark, but he stayed on to lead safaris and hunt big game. There are accounts of Blix's many amours and friendships with Hemingway, European nobility and remarkable women like Beryl Markham, author of West with the Night, during his African years. He died in Sweden trying to save the life of his lover after their car crashed. Photos not seen by PW. (September 30)