Great Circle - Maggie Shipstead

 

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead is a historically fictional novel that you wish were true.  This is a rolling, rollicking and wonderful story about pioneering aviatrix, feminist and iconoclast Marian Graves.  We follow Marian's life from her tumultuous beginnings culminating (almost) in her ambitious flight around the great circle of the globe (pole to pole) in 1951.

Marian is a character you wish were real in every sense.  Wanting to become financially independent when 14, she cuts her hair, dresses as a boy, buys a car, teaches herself to drive and becomes a moonshine runner in 1920s USA.  One day some some barnstormers visit her town, she scores a flight and from that moment she determines to be a pilot, even though "girls" are not supposed to do that sort of thing.  She flies alcohol from over the Canadian border, landing on glaciers and out-flying every man that dare takes her on.

A disastrous and brief marriage in her later teens ensures Marian will never again answer to anyone, but she still finds passion in her life. During WWII Marian joins a squad of women pilots who transport Spitfires and all manner of planes across airfields in Britain.  Marian tests the full capabilities of every plane she flies fearlessly.

After the war a rich benefactor agrees to fund her great circle flight and Marian tackles her hardest challenge.  Drama ensues.

This book was a complete joy to read, not inconsequential in length at nearly 600 pages, but the hours just rolled by without me noticing.  My favourite reading experience is to be just lost in a book for hours on end Great Circle provided just that.

The book has been shortlisted for the 2021 Man Booker prize.  I have no idea if it's a worthy winner, but for me, this book was a complete delight.  Recommended for humans.

Until next time, peace and love.

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

 

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller is a family drama which mainly focuses on Elle a 50 something mother of three and academic, married to a handsome Englishman, Peter, a financial journalist.  There's too much ground to cover here, but the novel traverses two timelines simultaneously: Elle's life from birth and a 24 hour period where the family and friends gather at the family holiday shacks on Cape Cod - named the paper palace after the cheap wall material from which they are constructed.

Elle and her sister Anna's upbringing and early adulthood are chaotic.  Her parent's are often distracted by their own lives to worry too much about their children.  There is a succession of step parents and divorces and a lifelong childhood friend Jonas.  Elle and Jonas meet at Cape Cod in their tweens and a bond develops between the two which waxes and wanes, but endures over the decades.  A major trauma occurs in their teenage years which means the two share a dark secret for life.

The book begins the morning after a drunken night at the paper palace and an infidelity happens - you can guess who.  From there we explore the previous 50 years leading to that point and the next 24 hours.

Heller's writing rolls along very nicely and I found nearly all the characters well drawn.  There are unexpected turns in the story which kept me on the hook.  I read this book quickly so that's a sign I enjoyed it.

No book is perfect of course and there were some gaps in time and one or two thin characters which could have benefited from more development.  At nearly 400 pages perhaps the editors called time - I imagine there's some commercial pressure in the publishing industry to keep novels to a manageable length.

All in all I found this a entertaining read and highly recommended.

Until next time, peace and love.