Great Circle

THE EPIC AND EMOTIONAL NEW YORK TIMES AND TIMES BESTSELLER Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction Shortlisted for the Booker Prize Amazon Book of the Year Time Magazine Book of the Year Waterstones fiction Book of the Month ______________ 'A GRIPPING HISTORICAL ADVENTURE' STYLIST 'SO BEAUTIFUL, SO DARING, SO COMPLETE' TAYLOR JENKINS REID, author of Carrie Soto is Back 'A MASTERPIECE' NIGELLA LAWSON EXTRAORDINARY' NEW YORK TIMES 'ONE OF MY ALL-TIME FAVOURITE NOVELS' READER REVIEW ***** _______________________ A soaring, breathtakingly ambitious novel that weaves together the astonishing lives of a 1950s vanished female aviator and the modern-day Hollywood actress who plays her on screen. Marian Graves is driven by a need for freedom and danger. From her days as a wild child in prohibition America to the blitz and glitz of wartime London, she is determined to live an independent life. But it is an obsession with flight that consumes her most. Having become one of the most fearless pilots in her time, she sets out to do what no one has done before: to circumnavigate the globe from pole to pole. But shortly before completing the journey, her plane disappears, lost to history. Over half a century later, troubled film star Hadley Baxter is offered to play Marian in the comeback role of a lifetime. From the first pages of the script, Hadley is drawn inexorably to the female pilot. It is a role that will lead her to an unexpected discovery, throwing fresh and spellbinding light on the story of the unknowable Marian Graves. _______________________ WATERSTONES FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH JUNE 2022 SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2022 SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2021 A ROYAL READING ROOM PICK 2023 SHORTLISTED FOR THE HWA GOLD CROWN 2022 TIME MAGAZINE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER MAY 2021 TIMES BESTSELLER JUNE 2022 _______________________ 'Full of adventure, passion and tragedy' THE TIMES 'Soars from the very first page' SUNDAY EXPRESS 'Luminous, masterful. Glides seamlessly through the 20th century' TELEGRAPH , Best Fiction of 2021 'Breathtaking' OBSERVER 'Truly exceptional storytelling, combining a sweeping arc of history with writing that, at sentence level, is near-flawless.' THE BOOKSELLER 'A tour-de-force' DAILY EXPRESS 'Impressive and gripping' SUNDAY TIMES 'Surprising and moving at every turn' GUARDIAN 'Audacious and Immersive' DAILY MAIL 'Accomplished and ambitious' FINANCIAL TIMES Readers love GREAT CIRCLE : ***** What a read! Immense story with beautifully created characters ***** The story is so well researched and planned; historical fiction standing side by side with history itself ***** This is a stunning achievement, my perspective feels fundamentally transformed through reading it ***** A wonderful saga, covering a large chunk of the twentieth century

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK - The unforgettable story of a daredevil female aviator determined to chart her own course in life, at any cost: an "epic trip--through Prohibition and World War II, from Montana to London to present-day Hollywood--and you'll relish every minute" ( People ). After being rescued as infants from a sinking ocean liner in 1914, Marian and Jamie Graves are raised by their dissolute uncle in Missoula, Montana. There--after encountering a pair of barnstorming pilots passing through town in beat-up biplanes--Marian commences her lifelong love affair with flight. At fourteen she drops out of school and finds an unexpected and dangerous patron in a wealthy bootlegger who provides a plane and subsidizes her lessons, an arrangement that will haunt her for the rest of her life, even as it allows her to fulfill her destiny: circumnavigating the globe by flying over the North and South Poles. A century later, Hadley Baxter is cast to play Marian in a film that centers on Marian's disappearance in Antarctica. Vibrant, canny, disgusted with the claustrophobia of Hollywood, Hadley is eager to redefine herself after a romantic film franchise has imprisoned her in the grip of cult celebrity. Her immersion into the character of Marian unfolds, thrillingly, alongside Marian's own story, as the two women's fates--and their hunger for self-determination in vastly different geographies and times--collide. Epic and emotional, meticulously researched and gloriously told, Great Circle is a monumental work of art, and a tremendous leap forward for the prodigiously gifted Maggie Shipstead.

THE EPIC AND EMOTIONAL NEW YORK TIMES AND TIMES BESTSELLER Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction Shortlisted for the Booker Prize Amazon Book of the Year Time Magazine Book of the Year Waterstones fiction Book of the Month ______________ 'A GRIPPING HISTORICAL ADVENTURE' STYLIST 'SO BEAUTIFUL, SO DARING, SO COMPLETE' TAYLOR JENKINS REID, author of Carrie Soto is Back 'A MASTERPIECE' NIGELLA LAWSON EXTRAORDINARY' NEW YORK TIMES 'ONE OF MY ALL-TIME FAVOURITE NOVELS' READER REVIEW ***** _______________________ A soaring, breathtakingly ambitious novel that weaves together the astonishing lives of a 1950s vanished female aviator and the modern-day Hollywood actress who plays her on screen. Marian Graves is driven by a need for freedom and danger. From her days as a wild child in prohibition America to the blitz and glitz of wartime London, she is determined to live an independent life. But it is an obsession with flight that consumes her most. Having become one of the most fearless pilots in her time, she sets out to do what no one has done before: to circumnavigate the globe from pole to pole. But shortly before completing the journey, her plane disappears, lost to history. Over half a century later, troubled film star Hadley Baxter is offered to play Marian in the comeback role of a lifetime. From the first pages of the script, Hadley is drawn inexorably to the female pilot. It is a role that will lead her to an unexpected discovery, throwing fresh and spellbinding light on the story of the unknowable Marian Graves. _______________________ WATERSTONES FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH JUNE 2022 SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2022 SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2021 A ROYAL READING ROOM PICK 2023 SHORTLISTED FOR THE HWA GOLD CROWN 2022 TIME MAGAZINE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER MAY 2021 TIMES BESTSELLER JUNE 2022 _______________________ 'Full of adventure, passion and tragedy' THE TIMES 'Soars from the very first page' SUNDAY EXPRESS 'Luminous, masterful. Glides seamlessly through the 20th century' TELEGRAPH , Best Fiction of 2021 'Breathtaking' OBSERVER 'Truly exceptional storytelling, combining a sweeping arc of history with writing that, at sentence level, is near-flawless.' THE BOOKSELLER 'A tour-de-force' DAILY EXPRESS 'Impressive and gripping' SUNDAY TIMES 'Surprising and moving at every turn' GUARDIAN 'Audacious and Immersive' DAILY MAIL 'Accomplished and ambitious' FINANCIAL TIMES Readers love GREAT CIRCLE : ***** What a read! Immense story with beautifully created characters ***** The story is so well researched and planned; historical fiction standing side by side with history itself ***** This is a stunning achievement, my perspective feels fundamentally transformed through reading it ***** A wonderful saga, covering a large chunk of the twentieth century

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK - The unforgettable story of a daredevil female aviator determined to chart her own course in life, at any cost: an "epic trip--through Prohibition and World War II, from Montana to London to present-day Hollywood--and you'll relish every minute" ( People ). After being rescued as infants from a sinking ocean liner in 1914, Marian and Jamie Graves are raised by their dissolute uncle in Missoula, Montana. There--after encountering a pair of barnstorming pilots passing through town in beat-up biplanes--Marian commences her lifelong love affair with flight. At fourteen she drops out of school and finds an unexpected and dangerous patron in a wealthy bootlegger who provides a plane and subsidizes her lessons, an arrangement that will haunt her for the rest of her life, even as it allows her to fulfill her destiny: circumnavigating the globe by flying over the North and South Poles. A century later, Hadley Baxter is cast to play Marian in a film that centers on Marian's disappearance in Antarctica. Vibrant, canny, disgusted with the claustrophobia of Hollywood, Hadley is eager to redefine herself after a romantic film franchise has imprisoned her in the grip of cult celebrity. Her immersion into the character of Marian unfolds, thrillingly, alongside Marian's own story, as the two women's fates--and their hunger for self-determination in vastly different geographies and times--collide. Epic and emotional, meticulously researched and gloriously told, Great Circle is a monumental work of art, and a tremendous leap forward for the prodigiously gifted Maggie Shipstead.