Because I really enjoyed previous selections of the “Read With Jenna” book club, including White Ivy and The Four Winds,I was inclined to read Maggie Shipstead’s Great Circle, the group’s selection for May 2021. It has received many rave reviews and has one of those plotlines that encompasses two strong female characters in two very different time periods. I was SO ready for a good story after way too many psychological thrillers and what my friend Martha calls “One night stands”– mysteries you begin and complete in a day. Enjoyable, but generally not memorable.

The two women in this book are Marian Graves and Hadley Baxer. In 1914, Marian was rescued from a sinking ocean liner, along with her twin brother Jamie. They lived with their classically dissolute artist uncle in Montana, where they are more or less left to raise themselves. Marian is a classic “plucky heroine” whose lifelong love affair with flying leads her to drop out of school at fourteen and become involved with a wealthy bootlegger who provides her with a plane and flying lessons. Marian’s life is definitely filled with adventure as she pursues her destiny, disappearing as she tries to circumnavigate the globe by flying over both the North and the South Pole.

Hadley Baxter, the second woman, is a famous actress working on resurrecting her career that has been self destructing as a result of her actions. She has outgrown the franchise roles in a series of romantic films and is drawn to the story of Marian Graves’ life and disappearance.

The stories of Marian and Hadley unfold in alternating sections, as each of them struggles against the challenges to their ability to determine their own path in life. The time period and the geography are different, but there are many parallels in their lives.

Did I enjoy it? Yes. Hadley has great stretches of awesome language about the Hollywood environment (particularly when she is stoned on mushrooms), but it is Marian’s comments about marriage and women’s roles that were the most striking for me. For example, her husband Barclay “…was more determined to marry her than she was to avoid marrying him.” And she learns that she “…hadn’t anticipated how much of her behavior after marriage would be motivated by a wish not to argue.” So yes, it is very enjoyable. It definitely didn’t knock my socks off and, TBH, I skimmed a bit during the last few chapters. It needed some editing, and its length (600+ pages) may turn some readers off. But I was eager to learn how it would be resolved for both women (and also eager to get on with my TBR pile). Wavering on star rating. Three seems too low, and four too high…but I can’t do 3.5, so rounded up to 4. Definitely enjoyable, likely memorable. Ask me in a year! Thanks to Knopf Doubleday and NetFalley for a copy in exchange for this honest review.

This book is a massive undertaking, and moves somewhat more slowly than many other novels. It is a story of aviator Marian Graves who wanted to fly from the time she was quite young. Starting flying lessons at age 14, her heroes are the early women flyers who were the pioneers of the 20s and 30s. Marian’s twin, Jamie, and their best friend, Caleb, spent their days doing whatever they wanted to do. Marian and Jamie, as infants, survived the sinking of an ocean liner, rescued by their father, who goes to prison for his part in the sinking. They were sent to live with an uncle in Montana and he was so wrapped up in his art life he just let the children go wild. Marian finds a questionable benefactor in Barclay Macqueen, and does not realize what this will cost her in the long run; he does enable her to fly, but with conditions. She flies to Canada, picking up bootleg liquor, flying back to Montana with it, where Macqueen runs his huge network. Marriage follows, and later, she is able to run away far from his reach, spending many years in Alaska, where she refines her plans to fly around the world.

The interspersed chapters deal with the modern movie being filmed and actress Hadley Baxter who is cast to play Marian in a film sixty years later. To me, these chapters were not needed. The book might have been stronger if Shipstead had focused on the historical story.

We learn more about Jamie and Caleb, and World War II. Marian was trained to do flight transport and served in England. Her epic around the world flight happened in 1950, and ended in failure. Or did it?

May the circle be unbroken. This is one of the best books I have read the past couple of years. The story gained momentum as it went until it nearly became too exciting. The only tiny flaw was perhaps the length but I couldn't think of anything that could be cut. I will be talking about this one for a long time.

Great story about family, hardship, perseverance, and loss. This is a profoundly moving story unfolding over multiple timelines. The characters are intriguing and well-drawn, allowing readers to really feel empathy and compassion for the turmoil in their lives. The plot is interesting and well-paced.. I would recommend this book for readers of Kristin Hannah and Paula McLain. Thank you for the early review copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 rounded up - This one got off to a rocky start for me. It jumps around so quickly in the very beginning my head was spinning but once it settles down a bit things got much better. At the core this is an epic historical fiction romance story of Marion Graves - a queer, devil-may-care girl who just wanted to fly and went after that dream no matter the cost. It gave me BIG Legends of the Fall vibes!! The story spans from 1914 up to the present day with alternating timelines and multiple POVs. To be perfectly honest the modern storyline with the movie star who ends up playing Marian in her biopic did not interest me much at all and I feel like that whole story could have been cut without much loss to the book overall. It's a LONG book and I'm usually so up for a big fat historical fiction but this one dragged in places to be sure. TLDR: super STRONG female aviator who chased after her dreams, didn't let men get in her way and died in a mysterious way we don’t fully learn about til the very end. Highly recommend for Amelia Earhart fans or anyone who enjoyed Circling the sun, Her last flight or The Paris secret.

Favorite quotes:
"Why must she always be protected? He can't keep her safe against the dangers that matter, the darkness, the possibility of falling. His attempts are insulting."

"It's so expected for girls to like men that most of them never stop to think if they really do."

⚠️CW: abortion, sexual assault/rape by an intimate partner

Great Circle is the story of Marian Graves, a female that dreams of nothing but flying. She meets a wealthy bootlegger that gives her the opportunity to learn how to fly and she takes it! The novel follows Marian's journey to becoming a pilot and then finding work as one. It also explores her relationship with her brother, her uncle, a friend, and a husband.

The story then follows another plot line of an actress named Hadley that is playing Marian in a movie a century later. Although I liked the Marian chapters, more than the Hadley ones, I loved the way they were intertwined in the end.

I am a huge fan of aviation and this book brought my imagination to life! I could imagine myself as Marian and being a female pilot when it wasn't widely accepted. I would read many more adventures of Marian Graves.

In many ways, this book is astonishing. The storytelling and the world of the book is so assured, and so confident, that, as you will no doubt see many readers say, they needed to google whether the main character is a historical person. The writing is also really spectacular, evocative down to the sentence level. I was swept away by this book immediately, although there were parts when my interest flagged, mainly because there's just so much suffering/loss, and a general air of cynicism regarding women and their bodies and how they have to use them to get by in the world, among other things. In the end, I feel like it arrived at a less cynical place, and I ultimately really enjoyed it. It's an impossible book not to finish because the promise of a plane journey around both poles is so exciting, and the contemporary story of the actress playing the aviatrix is also extremely compelling. This is the perfect book for a juicy vacation read that also has some real heft. It's one of the books that will make you glad to be a reader.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for this most excellent read! I had just finished reading the book Fly Girls, by Keith O’Brien, which was about the early female aviators like Amelia Earhart and her compatriots, which was fascinating and was what made me interested in reading Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead. This is the story of two woman, Marian Graves is a female aviator in the early 20th century, who disappeared in the Antarctic towards the end of an around the world flight; and Hadley Baxter is a troubled young starlet in the current day, caught in a Hollywood scandal, who is trying to redefine her career by playing Marian in a movie about her final flight. The book goes back and forth between the two women. Marian’s tale starts with her and her twin brother being essentially orphaned and then raised by an uncle in the wilds of Montana. Marian becomes enthralled with flight and makes choices that will allow her to learn to fly, but will also lead her to wed a bootlegger and give up her freedom. Hadley’s story has similar beginnings – orphaned early (her parents lost in a plane crash), raised by an uncle. She becomes a film star and also makes some bad decisions, which leads her to the role of Marian. The “great circle” of the title is Marian’s view of flying the globe, but it also refers to the arc of these women’s lives, and the connections between them despite the century in between. I really enjoyed this one – it is big book (over 600 pages) but it never felt like it and was definitely worth the read. If you like books about strong women, then you are sure to like Great Circle.

A lyrical story with no real beginning and no end. Two connected characters and a compelling story that is beautifully written. Read along with Jenna

If you're into soap operas, you'll ADORE this rather long nonfiction book. But for me it was a great slog. Could have been two or three good books, but I admit to getting bored with all the extraneous (and meaningless) sleeping around by anybody and everybody. Sometimes it was hard to keep track of the plot because of the seesawing between early twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It wasn't my thing, but lots of others really enjoyed it.
I requested and received a free temporary ebook copy from Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group via NetGalley.

An epic and unforgettable novel featuring an inspiring protagonist in Marian Graves. The writing is moving and nuanced, and Marian’s journey (and those of her family and a contemporary woman playing her in a movie) is thrilling. Shipstead does an incredible job of making her reader soar alongside Marian as we move through the 20th century.

This story was so fun to read!

The first 20% I admit was hard for me to follow along with. It took a long time to set the story up and there was a lot of switching between present-day and historical recount. But once I started to understand what was happening, I was hooked.

Thank you to the author, Knopf Publishing, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Perhaps this is more a 4 1/2 stars for me but the word choice and descriptions are so outstanding that I’m going with 5 stars. The main story of one of the first female pilots is captivating with characters you care about. The secondary story of a movie being made of that pilot was not as interesting to me. Loved the detail, settings, plot and side plots, and the excellent way the author made history come alive.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Knopf Publishing for the ARC to read and review.

Wow, I have such mixed feeling about this book. First, this is indeed a very sweeping book. It spans many lifetimes so as expected it is very long. Too long in my opinion. I really enjoyed reading about Marian's life and all that she had done and accomplished. Her and Jamie's chapters were by far my favorite part of the book. I found Hadley's chapters to be a bit dull and am frankly still wondering why we needed to know so much about her. I certainly see the parallels of her life to Marian's, sure. But I wish her part of the story had been shorter. All in all it was a good read.

Whew...that was a tome! But well worth the reading commitment and I will be recommending this title to library patrons who I know are up to the task. Thank you to netgalley for the advance ecopy of this book.

Maggie Shipstead's latest novel, Great Circle, is a roller-coaster of emotion--one moment your heart is soaring, and the next it may come tumbling to the ground as fast as a sinking aircraft. Nonetheless, every bit of the ride is well worth the read. I must admit, however, the length of the book was a bit intimidating to me, but once I reached the heart of the story, I found myself reading quickly, unable to put it down. The complexity of character, and the intermingling of their stories, is at the heart of the tome. We find Marian and Jamie Graves as children being raised by their uncle in Montana after the "disappearance" of their parents. Our heroine, Marian, pursues a love-affair with aviation at the tender age of fourteen, which determines her tumultuous path in life. The other protagonist in the book, Hadley Baxter, is a present-day actress in Hollywood cast to play Marian in an upcoming biopic, a century later. "Nights and days, summers and winters,"....this beautiful story unfolds brilliantly through the years, with each character's storyline and Ms. Shipstead's impeccable eye for detail. Thank you NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for this advanced eCopy. This book will appeal to many, many readers, I am sure.

Wow! I didn't want this book to end. Circle within circles. Geographic circles, personal circles, timeline circles. This book carries us through many lives over a century. In a shorter book, many of the characters would have no been left behind. In this title almost all the characters get fully fleshed out and carried through their own circle of time. As in life, a few disappear without a trace. I loved all these characters. Ok, some weren’t lovable but they were essential. I had no idea how long the book was, but I still wasn't ready for it to end, though honestly it ended beautifully. Let repeat what the editor wrote in the intro "This is a novel to get lost in, a novel that reminds us that books really are magic. .... Just trust me" read this one. What a journey. Thx to Netgalley, publisher and author for this great read.

Wow! This is a tome of some magnitude! Maggie Shipstead is a great writer, otherwise I might have given up when it seemed there were so many pages still left to go! This is really my only negative comment. I think it could have been a little shorter to move the story along more quickly, yet...., what to cut? Every word and description seems to fill the characters in more fully, turning them from paper dolls into full living people. My husband and I have been working several years on trying to fill in the pieces of his father's life in WWII Poland before he immigrated to Australia, and there are so many missing pieces. This seemed to me a little like if you were able to go back and see someone's story, and before that their parent's story, which is partially how they became the way they are. In other words, this was a little like living Marian's life.

As other's have stated, this is the story of two women, Marian who dreams of being an aviator, reminiscent of Amelia Earhart, her story starting in the early part of the century. Then there is Hadley, living in modern times who has almost accidently become a movie star and then managed to mess it all up badly. I agree with other reviewers that this is really Marian's story, although the Hadley story line does tie in neatly. The author immerses you in Marian's world and it was a new experience for me, both because I've never visited this part of the United States, and there was a wealth of information on flying. It made me wonder if the author took flying lessons to get such extensive details. I won't try to condense the story line as it's simply too big and you will have to read it for yourself.

While this was not always the easiest book to read, it is a book I felt I entered another world when I was turning it's pages. The amount of detail the author put into this story, and the polished well chosen words she used to portray the story was a marvel!

Thank you to NetGalley, Author Maggie Shipstead, and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC.

The Great Circle

The Great Circle is a remarkably complex construction but masterfully executed. It tells the story of Marian Graves, a pioneering female pilot who, like the more well-known Amelia Earhart, disappears trying to circumnavigate the globe.

Marian’s story is told as a story within a story. In the present, it is told from the perspective of a troubled young actress who is playing Marian in a biopic of her life. Hadley had been fascinated by Marian as a young girl and determines to try to find out who Marian really was as much for herself as for the role.

The majority of the book focuses on Marian’s actual life and the author, Maggie Shipstead, does an excellent job of creating an intimate portrait of Marian and the people in her life. The way the author closes the circle between the telling of Marian’s story across the generations is well done.

While I would certainly recommend this book, I would describe it as interesting but not particularly enjoyable. I felt a pervasive theme that ran throughout the book was grim resolution, and it would start to wear on me after a few chapters.

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf for this advance copy of Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead.
Wow what a fantastic read! Definitely one of my top reads for this and probably last year. There are so many things to like about this book.
First off, word choice. Each and every word and sentence you feel is absolutely picked for the evocation it will bring to the reader. Do you see how I used the word evocation, well Shipstead uses words that are bigger and more satisfying than the norm, and it draws you deeper into the story.
Pacing, I have read some reviews where they thought this was too long, indulgent, slow to read. I felt the opposite. I thought the pacing was wonderful. As Marian and Jamie (and Hadley for that matter) came more into their own understanding of what and who they were, so did the story.
I loved the characters and how well developed there were. The author uses different point of views and each shift from one to the next was done so well. Many books are more jarring in their transition from one character's story to the next, but Shipstead does a great job leaving the reader on a precipice of one story line and picking up without a misstep into the next, segmenting them into a similar emotion, decision, or life course change.
I totally recommend this book, you will find yourself looking up Marian Graves to want to know more about her, only to see what a masterful job the author did in making you believe she and her story are real.