Author(s): Maggie Shipstead

Fiction

From the night she is rescued as a baby out of the flames of a sinking ship; to the day she joins a pair of daredevil pilots looping and diving over the rugged forests of her childhood, to the thrill of flying Spitfires during the war, the life of Marian Graves has always been marked by a lust for freedom and danger. In 1950, she embarks on her life's dream - to fly a Great Circle around the globe, pole to pole. But after a crash landing she finds herself stranded on the Antarctic ice without enough fuel. With a fearsome piece of water separating her from completion of the Circle, she writes one last entry in her logbook. She is ready for her final journey. Half a century later, Hadley Baxter, a brilliant, troubled Hollywood starlet is irresistibly drawn to play Marian Graves, a role that will lead her to probe the deepest mysteries of the vanished pilot's life. An enthralling journey over oceans and continents and a drama of exhilarating power, Great Circle combines an unforgettable cast with thrilling suspense in a hearstopping story of loss and obsession, sacrifice and survival, of the unknowable mysteries of freedom, love and life itself. 

CONSTANT READER STAFF REVIEW:

I read this book in the middle of the 2021 lockdown and, for five whole days, was completely transported. I literally could not put it down and felt so sad when I finished the last page.

Spanning Prohibition-era Montana, the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, New Zealand, Antarctica, wartime London, and modern-day LA, Great Circle is an epic in the truest sense of the word.

A trailblazing aviatrix with an insatiable appetite for adventure, Marian Graves is determined to fly, no matter the cost. Her lust for freedom leads her on a journey that spans continents and oceans, and forces her to grapple with loss, obsession, and sacrifice.

Immensely satisfying and beautifully written, Great Circle is one of the best books I have read in a long time. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.