NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR, BOOKPAGE, AND SHELF AWARENESS • “Paula McLain is considered the new star of historical fiction, and for good reason. Fans of The Paris Wife will be captivated by Circling the Sun, which . . . is both beautifully written and utterly engrossing.”—Ann Patchett, Country LivingThis powerful novel transports readers to the … Country Living
This powerful novel transports readers to the breathtaking world of Out of Africa—1920s Kenya—and reveals the extraordinary adventures of Beryl Markham, a woman before her time. Brought to Kenya from England by pioneering parents dreaming of a new life on an African farm, Beryl is raised unconventionally, developing a fierce will and a love of all things wild. But after everything she knows and trusts dissolves, headstrong young Beryl is flung into a string of disastrous relationships, then becomes caught up in a passionate love triangle with the irresistible safari hunter Denys Finch Hatton and the writer Baroness Karen Blixen. Brave and audacious and contradictory, Beryl will risk everything to have Denys’s love, but it’s ultimately her own heart she must conquer to embrace her true calling and her destiny: to fly.
Praise for Circling the Sun
“In McLain’s confident hands, Beryl Markham crackles to life, and we readers truly understand what made a woman so far ahead of her time believe she had the power to soar.”—Jodi Picoult, author of Leaving Time
“Enchanting . . . a worthy heir to [Isak] Dinesen . . . Like Africa as it’s so gorgeously depicted here, this novel will never let you go.”—The Boston Globe
“Famed aviator Beryl Markham is a novelist’s dream. . . . [A] wonderful portrait of a complex woman who lived—defiantly—on her own terms.”—People (Book of the Week)
“Circling the Sun soars.”—Newsday
“Captivating . . . [an] irresistible novel.”—The Seattle Times
“Like its high-flying subject, Circling the Sun is audacious and glamorous and hard not to be drawn in by. Beryl Markham may have married more than once, but she was nobody’s wife.”—Entertainment Weekly
“[An] eloquent evocation of Beryl’s daring life.”—O: The Oprah Magazine
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A wonderful book about colonial Kenya. Action packed and easy to read history.
It wove an interesting story about a character that in real life wasn’t very like able. But then again, if she had been a man, everything would have been acceptable. Her actual accomplishments seemed to be secondary to the story of her various affairs.
I likely would have read this sooner, had I not just finished West with the Night – Beryl Markham’s memoirs – when Circling the Sun – Paula McLain’s fictional account of Markham – appeared on my radar.
A bit of background first. McLain’s The Paris Wife was one of the best books I read in 2011. I loved McLain’s writing in general and her treatment of Hadley Richardson in particular. I may have had a similar reaction to McLain’s treatment of Markham, too, had I not already read the latter’s own memoir.
The writing is certainly there. McLain writes beautiful prose and, as with The Paris Wife, I found myself often stopping to admire her way with words. “I have fought for independence here, and freedom, too. More and more I find they’re not at all the same thing,” McLain has Markham say at one juncture. Simultaneously obvious and subtle, this sentiment stopped me in my reading tracks to ruminate how concisely McLain captured this thought.
Likewise, when I read in the narrative, “The beautiful rich who hoisted themselves up on vast parcels of land…They had their own rules, or none at all – which could happen when you had too much money and too much time.” I again felt compelled to read and re-read and re-read again McLain’s lovely prose. (And also to recall the multiple books featuring the well born behaving behaving badly. See White Mischief or My Life as a Mountbatten or Lady Catherine, the Earl, and the Real Downton Abbey should you need any convincing.)
Ultimately, though, I felt that McLain gave Markham short shrift. Markham’s life was one of firsts for women, from horse trainer to bush pilot, yet McLain chose to focus on Markham’s personal life – failed marriages and extramarital scandals not least of all – which left me with a diminished sense of who Markham was and what she accomplished. And so, even though I don’t find particular faults with the book itself, and enjoy and admire McLain’s writing, I came away disappointed, feeling that I had read but a very partial account of Markham’s life and times.
Two-and-a-half stars. (Caveat: see above. Anyone who hasn’t read West with the Night will most likely – and fairly – find this rating overly harsh.)
(This review was originally published at http://www.thisyearinbooks.com/2017/12/i-likely-would-have-read-this-sooner.html.)
If you liked “Out of Africa” you will like this book about another woman who lived in Kenya at the same time. What a life!
What a wonderful book! I found the story of her life fascinating and surprising, and I enjoyed learning more about Africa during that time frame. Historical fiction at its best. If you read just one book this year, read this one.
Great historical fiction. (Well I think it was fiction, but maybe not, as it is based on true characters.) I have read Isak Dineson (Karen Blixen) and this is the same, or similar, story from a different point of view, particularly about Denis Finch-Hatton. Maybe some liberties were taken, but it gives a good perspective of Beryl Markham’s early life.
Loved it. Some of the same characters as Out of Africa! Well written,with a wonderful sense of time ,place, and characters.
I found this book very interesting from both the subject and the characters view. I found it held my interest and it also gave me some fascinating information that I had not known before.
Another story about a character from “Out of Africa”
Awesome
This is a well-written historical fiction based on the early life of Beryl Markham, who is credited as being the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean on the east to west route (as well as the first woman to cross the Atlantic). The book covers her unique upbringing in British East Africa (Kenya), her family’s trials and tribulations, and her romances, all of which are a backdrop to her exceptional talents and accomplishments. As a child, she lived with her father on a farm and developed close friendships with members of a neighboring African tribe. She learned their language and hunted with the young boys of the tribe. As a young woman, she reluctantly entered a marriage of convenience that quickly disintegrated. She escaped from the marriage by becoming a successful racehorse trainer, not to mention the first licensed female racehorse trainer in Africa. Later, she took up flying and was able to support herself by conducting rescue missions, delivering mail, and tracking game for the lucrative safari business of the time.
The remarkable and adventurous life of Beryl Markham is presented in this novel in a poignant and sympathetic way, doing justice to this intelligent, capable, independent woman who at times has been harshly judged for her unconventional choices. My only criticism is that her transatlantic flight and the events leading up to it and immediately following, were not sufficiently covered in the novel.
Very interesting book. I was not familiar with this story and I found it to be a great read. Very informative about the era, the people, relationships, and location. A different world and time about some rather visionary people.
I got a real feel for time and place.
What a great read! Love stories written about that era and life in Africa. If you
enjoyed “Out of Africa” this is the book for you!
Beautifully done. The author fleshed out the character of Beryl Markham, while stating very true to West with the Night. WHat I particularly enjoyed was the way the author’s style so closely imitated the beautiful, beautiful writing style of Beryl herself. I was sorry to finish this one.
It was a good read, with interesting characters who were a little surprising at every turn. It brought to life a place through the unusual lives lived there in a moving and original wa.
I really didn’t know that much about the life of Beryl Markham, and this book was quite a surprise. Those times in history were not what I truly expected, but then again, this was a very different time, and the people were not your average blokes.
It was lovely returning to the Out of Africa characters . A refreshing read during this terrible political crazy world we live in today.
What a fascinating life.
Great writing!