Great Circle, by Maggie Shipstead

Marian Graves was a pilot, who disappeared in 1950 with her navigator when attempting a circumnavigation of the globe via both poles. Hadley Baxter is a young actress playing Marian in biopic many years later. Marian and her twin brother Jamie were raised by their uncle in rural Montana. Her story is told in a series of time and place-stamped short pieces, starting with the lives of her mentally unwell mother and oddball ship captain father. Orphaned as a toddler by a plane crash and also raised by her uncle, Hollywood brat Hadley tells her own tale of discovering Marian’s true story while playing her. The novel also contains potted histories of many intrepid female (and some male) aviators, which borders on the didactic but provides an interesting backdrop and context, especially the WWII pilots. At almost 600 pages this is not a quick read, but it is an absorbing tale that holds attention and takes a rather different direction just when it seems to be getting predictable. The author says this was cut down from an unwieldy 1000 pages, which may explain why Hadley’s story is left hanging. This makes her a vessel to advance Marian’s story, rather than a fully-rounded character in her own right, which is a little disappointing. Ultimately the tale celebrates love on its own terms and female achievement when up against incredible hardship and obstacles.