Around the World in a Great Circle – Maggie Shipstead

Submitted: 19th December 2022

A Trail of a novel around the world

In 1950, Marion Graves embarks on the great circle flight, circumnavigating the globe. It is Marian’s life dream and her final journey, before she disappears without a trace….

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Boarding Pass Information:

Destination : Around the world on a plane

Author guide: Maggie Shipstead

Genre: Literary fiction

Food and drink to accompany: nothing as you’ll spill it in the plane

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A novel to transport you around the world in a plane

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There is a world map at the start of this novel. It shows the journey of the main character in the novel – a woman who, in 1940, attempts to navigate the world in an airplane. Marian Graves is her name. Such an iconic and amazing character that I honestly thought she had been plucked from history.

There were of course real famous female aviators such as Amelia Earhart and Amy Johnson but I think it’s clever that the author didn’t try to recreate their live and journeys. Marion is a very intricate and important character on her own.

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Two time lines. Marion’s story is told in the past, and in the modern day we get to meet the actress who will play Marion in a film. Hadley Baxter’s career has been grounded, so she is hoping that a story about a woman who quite literarally takes off and shows the world what she can do is going to be a good omen for her.

The story reads like a series of vignettes, scenes or postcards if you will. We see two stories weave their way around the globe as like two planes going loop de loop at the same time. the stories interweave. A delight to experience.

I prefered Marions story even though they were both good. Marion is the real star of course. She is a trendsetter and really changes the face of aviation. She is a woman in a man’s world and she will not stop until she can fly a plane. Never mind what anyone tells her otherwise.

There’s so much to Marion. I have to say that this book is not just about that flight around the world. This is Marion’s story in so many ways. I really feel I got to know the woman and her obsession, her passion for flight and for escaping her fate. She is quite the character and quite the woman. A rich tapesty of a story is created here for you to watch and it’s fascinating how the author has pulled it all together.

There’s not many stories I would describe as epic but this really is.