Great Circle

Hardcover, 608 pages

Published May 4, 2021 by Knopf.

ISBN:: 9780525656975

(1 review)

From her days as a wild child in prohibition America to the blitz and glitz of wartime London, from the rugged shores of New Zealand to a lonely iceshelf in Antarctica, Marian Graves is driven by a need for freedom and danger.

Determined to live an independent life, she resists the pull of her childhood sweetheart, and burns her way through a suite of glamorous lovers. But it is an obsession with flight that consumes her most.

Now, as she is about to fulfil her greatest ambition, to circumnavigate the globe from pole to pole, Marian crash lands in a perilous wilderness of ice.

Over half a century later, troubled film star Hadley Baxter is drawn inexorably to play the enigmatic pilot on screen. It is a role that will lead her to an unexpected discovery, throwing fresh and spellbinding light on the story of the unknowable Marian Graves.

A …

From her days as a wild child in prohibition America to the blitz and glitz of wartime London, from the rugged shores of New Zealand to a lonely iceshelf in Antarctica, Marian Graves is driven by a need for freedom and danger.

Determined to live an independent life, she resists the pull of her childhood sweetheart, and burns her way through a suite of glamorous lovers. But it is an obsession with flight that consumes her most.

Now, as she is about to fulfil her greatest ambition, to circumnavigate the globe from pole to pole, Marian crash lands in a perilous wilderness of ice.

Over half a century later, troubled film star Hadley Baxter is drawn inexorably to play the enigmatic pilot on screen. It is a role that will lead her to an unexpected discovery, throwing fresh and spellbinding light on the story of the unknowable Marian Graves.

A Book of the Year for The Times, Telegraph, Daily Express, New Statesman, Good Housekeeping, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Time, Esquire, The Economist, Oprah Daily and Woman and Home

'A gripping historical adventure that feels sharp, fresh and modern' STYLIST

'So beautiful, so daring, so complete' TAYLOR JENKINS REID

'A masterpiece' NIGELLA LAWSON

9 editions

Brian Plunkett reviewed Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

4 stars

4.5 stars. I thought it would take me longer to finish this 600+ pager, but it really gripped me and kept me moving along. Excellent and exciting storytelling, focused on aviator Marian Graves, with great characters in both of the book’s timelines. Very well written -- for the most part, I’d say it’s filled with sentences that are a pleasure to read.

Some of Barclay’s actions (and the supposed reasoning behind them) didn’t really make sense to me, and that distracted me a bit. But it’s a fairly minor complaint, considering how much I liked the book overall.

Weaved into the story in both timelines are many memorable observations about friendship, love, adventure, heartache, sexual desire and pleasure, artistic expression, self-destruction, sexism, war, and atonement, not to mention aviation and film-making. There's also a cinematic sweep to the whole thing that is breathtaking at times (which I think is not …

4.5 stars. I thought it would take me longer to finish this 600+ pager, but it really gripped me and kept me moving along. Excellent and exciting storytelling, focused on aviator Marian Graves, with great characters in both of the book’s timelines. Very well written -- for the most part, I’d say it’s filled with sentences that are a pleasure to read.

Some of Barclay’s actions (and the supposed reasoning behind them) didn’t really make sense to me, and that distracted me a bit. But it’s a fairly minor complaint, considering how much I liked the book overall.

Weaved into the story in both timelines are many memorable observations about friendship, love, adventure, heartache, sexual desire and pleasure, artistic expression, self-destruction, sexism, war, and atonement, not to mention aviation and film-making. There's also a cinematic sweep to the whole thing that is breathtaking at times (which I think is not always easy to do in writing), e.g. ships at sea, crossing mountains north of Montana and heading west to the Pacific, flying across Antarctica, etc.