GREAT CIRCLE
by Maggie Shipstead
There is no question that Great Circle requires a commitment—at 589 pages. And I read it at a pace slower than any book I can remember reading in my recent past. But while I was reading it, I had five weeks of the delightful company of my L&L co-editor and her two small children. Quiet times for reading were few and far between. Despite the slowness with which I read it, however, I found myself consciously slowing down as I came to the end of the book. I simply didn’t want it to end. The characters had become my friends and I didn’t want to have to leave them forever. To say that this was the best book I have read in a long time, is an understatement. Great Circle is a masterpiece and I cannot recommend it strongly enough. Read it: you will thank me.
Great Circle lays out the story of Marian and Jamie Graves, orphaned at an early age, then deposited with their eccentric, artist uncle in Missoula, Montana in the early 1900s. Left mostly unsupervised, Marian and Jamie spend an unforgettable childhood pursuing adventures with Caleb, their neighbor who similarly has little adult supervision. Shipstead follows Marian and Jamie as they approach adulthood and begin to discern where their passions lie: for Jamie creating art; for Marian piloting airplanes. Both struggle to find loving relationships with significant others. Each plays a part in and is forever changed by their roles in the War.
Not only does Shipstead tell a compelling story in Great Circle. but she crafts the novel exquisitely. Interspersed with the stories of childhood and adolescence, Shipstead lays out an additional storyline set in 2014, where actress Hadley Baxter, having recently fallen from grace in her fans’ eyes, decides to accept the role of Marian Graves in a movie. She seeks to uncover who this fascinating woman really was – separate from everything that has been written about her. These parallel stories, one in the past and one in the present, are skillfully woven together and really pulled me in. Shipstead writes beautifully, with unforgettable descriptions of what it feels like to pilot a plane and an uncanny ability to evoke scenes in nature and their artistic representation. Great Circle is a great book. (Liz)
