Book Review of Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
Great Circle was in my top ten historical novels I read in 2024. Here’s the full review, with one section for readers deciding what to read next, and a more technical section for writers looking for comparison titles or inspiration.
The headline: Driven aviator Marian defies adolescent trauma to fly Alaska contraband, deliver Spitfires & circumnavigate via Antarctica in sprawling 20th century drama as uncovered by troubled actress playing her in a movie.
For readers…
Setting
Two timelines. The historical story starts in 1909 and quickly skips to New York in the 1920s, before settling in Montana, with excursions to Seattle, Alaska and wartime London, culminating in the eponymous flight around the world via the Poles in 1950. The modern timeline is Hollywood in 2014.
Characters
Marian – loner, wanderer and aviatrix, she buries trauma in her love of flying small aircraft. Hardened and driven.
Jamie – Marian’s twin brother, a lost soul and talented artist
Caleb – Marian and Jamie’s childhood friend
Barclay – brutal bootlegger who traps Marian in marriage
Eddie – British pilot who joins Marian on her last fated flight
Hadley – troubled film star playing Marian in a movie in Hollywood, who is drawn into researching Marian’s life.
Story
Twins Marian and Jamie grow up in remote Montana with moody artist Wallace and local friend Caleb. Marian learns to fly and transports bootleg booze for Barclay who traps her into a violent marriage. Jamie finds and loses the love of his life in Seattle. Marian escapes Barclay to fly planes in Alaska. In wartime, she delivers Spitfires in England and meets Eddie, while Jamie becomes a war artist. An unexpected benefactor funds Marian’s polar circumnavigation, with Eddie, but their plane disappears near New Zealand.
Sixty years later, Hadley plays Marian in a movie. Intrigued by her story, she uncovers more details of her life.
Why read Great Circle
An insight to the wanderer's psyche and the pull of early aviation.
If you liked…
The Ghost Ship by Kate Mosse, Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh, or are looking for an updated female version of classic adventure travel writers like Bruce Chatwin, William Golding or Joseph Conrad, then you’ll like Great Circle.
For writers…
Prose
Chapters in the historical main narrative are largely from Marian and Jamie’s point of view, but with a few secondary characters sharing their voices. Written in close third person present tense for immediate scenes, but with past tense for backstory. Poetic passages convey how Marian feels about flying over the empty landscapes of Alaska and Antarctica. Historical sections are more authorial, skipping years or decades to fill in context and drop in aviation history. Hadley’s chapters are first person, in a contemporary style, with extracts from Marian’s letters and journal.
Structure
No division into acts or chapter numbers – it is all one long epic take. The main narrative runs chronologically, with a few large time skips. Hadley’s chapters are lightly interspersed, usually when she discovers new information about Marian.
Chapters are short, and dates and places are clearly flagged. Occasional historical interludes mark the passage of time or fill in aviation history.
The author keeps us waiting for the circumnavigation until the last 100 pages. Epilogues from Hadley and Marian tie up the mystery.
Historical background
Marian is a fictional character, but based on research into female aviators of the 1930s and the women who delivered Spitfires in Britain during the war.
About the author
Great Circle is Maggie Shipstead’s third novel and was shortlisted for the Women’s prize and the Booker prize. https://www.maggieshipstead.com/