Great Circle
The soaring and emotional novel shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Booker Prize
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4.4 • 82 Ratings
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
THE EPIC AND EMOTIONAL NEW YORK TIMES AND TIMES BESTSELLER
Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize
Amazon Book of the Year
Time Magazine Book of the Year
Waterstones fiction Book of the Month
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'A GRIPPING HISTORICAL ADVENTURE' STYLIST
'SO BEAUTIFUL, SO DARING, SO COMPLETE' TAYLOR JENKINS REID, author of Carrie Soto is Back
'A MASTERPIECE' NIGELLA LAWSON
EXTRAORDINARY' NEW YORK TIMES
'ONE OF MY ALL-TIME FAVOURITE NOVELS' READER REVIEW *****
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A soaring, breathtakingly ambitious novel that weaves together the astonishing lives of a 1950s vanished female aviator and the modern-day Hollywood actress who plays her on screen.
Marian Graves is driven by a need for freedom and danger. From her days as a wild child in prohibition America to the blitz and glitz of wartime London, she is determined to live an independent life.
But it is an obsession with flight that consumes her most.
Having become one of the most fearless pilots in her time, she sets out to do what no one has done before: to circumnavigate the globe from pole to pole.
But shortly before completing the journey, her plane disappears, lost to history.
Over half a century later, troubled film star Hadley Baxter is offered to play Marian in the comeback role of a lifetime. From the first pages of the script, Hadley is drawn inexorably to the female pilot.
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.
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WATERSTONES FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH JUNE 2022
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2022
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2021
A ROYAL READING ROOM PICK 2023
SHORTLISTED FOR THE HWA GOLD CROWN 2022
TIME MAGAZINE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER MAY 2021
TIMES BESTSELLER JUNE 2022
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'Full of adventure, passion and tragedy' THE TIMES
'Soars from the very first page' SUNDAY EXPRESS
'Luminous, masterful. Glides seamlessly through the 20th century' TELEGRAPH, Best Fiction of 2021
'Breathtaking' OBSERVER
'Truly exceptional storytelling, combining a sweeping arc of history with writing that, at sentence level, is near-flawless.' THE BOOKSELLER
'A tour-de-force' DAILY EXPRESS
'Impressive and gripping' SUNDAY TIMES
'Surprising and moving at every turn' GUARDIAN
'Audacious and Immersive' DAILY MAIL
'Accomplished and ambitious' FINANCIAL TIMES
Readers love GREAT CIRCLE:
***** What a read! Immense story with beautifully created characters
***** The story is so well researched and planned; historical fiction standing side by side with history itself
***** This is a stunning achievement, my perspective feels fundamentally transformed through reading it
***** A wonderful saga, covering a large chunk of the twentieth century
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Shipstead (Seating Arrangements) returns with a breathtaking epic of a female aviator. In 1914, infant twins Marian and Jamie Graves are sent to their dissolute uncle in Montana after their mother dies. There, a married pair of barnstormers inspires 12-year-old Marian, who feels "only lightness" as a passenger during a roll, loop, and nosedive. As a teen trucking hootch during Prohibition, Marian makes a delivery to a brothel, where she meets bootlegger Barclay Macqueen, who sponsors her interest in flying. Later Barclay traps her in a disastrous marriage, and she flees to become a bush pilot in Alaska. Her subsequent exploits are thrillingly and perceptively chronicled: during WWII, she ferries Spitfires for the RAF, and in 1949 embarks on a fateful pole-to-pole circumnavigation of the globe, which leads to a crash in Antarctica, after which she is assumed to have died. Shipstead interweaves stories of Jamie, who becomes an artist and draws battle scenes during WWII, and of her wartime lover, Ruth, with asides about historic aviators (many of them women), and convincingly conveys her characters' yearning for connection, freedom, and purpose. In a present-day narrative, film star Hadley Baxter, herself orphaned by a plane crash, is cast to portray Marian, an ambitious move for Hadley after having been known for her role in a Twilight-esque fantasy series. Shipstead manages to portray both Marian's and Hadley's expanded sense of consciousness as they push the boundaries inscribed around them—Marian's through flight and Hadley's through creative inspiration (a particularly colorful scene has her zooming on psychedelic mushrooms). This is a stunning feat.
Customer Reviews
An astonishing and gripping read
Great Circle is totally convincing in its incredible detail....the mechanics of flying, the sights and feelings of flying and the ever-present dangers of flying. The Antarctic scenes are - pardon the pun - chilling.
Marian’s stubborn individuality, her fragile hold on personal feelings and relationships, and her lifelong obsession with flight, make her a unique character, unlikeable yet fascinating.
The sideline of the movie bio-pic - trying to recreate Marian’s life and loves - is a welcome contrast to the darkness and pathos of her true story.