By the New York Times bestselling and prizewinning author of SEAT ARRANGEMENTS.
'Ferociously clever' GUARDIAN
'Distinctive and dazzling' RICHARD RUSSO
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I WAS BORN TO BE A WANDERER
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. 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.
A Most Anticipated Book 2021 in Guardian, Independent and New Statesman
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Praise for Maggie Shipstead, New York Times bestseller and winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize and LA Times First Fiction Prize for SEATING ARRANGEMENTS.
'Outrageously gifted' RICHARD RUSSO
'Ferociously clever' GUARDIAN
''Graceful and dazzling' MARIA SEMPLE
'Joyously good' DAILY MAIL
'impressive' JEFFREY EUGENIDES
Imprint: Doubleday
Published: 04/05/2021
ISBN: 9780857526809
Length: 608 Pages
RRP: £16.99
This is truly exceptional storytelling, combining a sweeping arc of history with writing that, at sentence level, is near-flawless
Whether Shipstead is creating scenes in the Prohibition-era American West, in wartime London, or on a Hollywood movie set, her research is invisible, allowing a fully immersive experience. Ingeniously structured and so damn entertaining; this novel is as ambitious as its heroines-but it never falls from the sky.
Books to look forward to in 2021
This is truly exceptional storytelling, combining a sweeping arc of history with writing that, at sentence level, is near-flawless