Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead - Reading Guide
Explore how Maggie Shipstead’s novel, described by the judges as a ‘book of tremendous narrative ambition and scale’, is huge in scale without becoming a sprawl.
The lives of a fearless female aviator and the actress who portrays her on screen decades later intersect in Maggie Shipstead’s vivid, soaring novel.
Marian Graves was a daredevil all her life, from her wild childhood in the forests of Montana to her daring wartime Spitfire missions. In 1950, she sets off on her ultimate adventure, the Great Circle - a flight around the globe. She is never seen again. Half a century later, Hadley Baxter, a scandal-ridden Hollywood actress, whose own parents perished in a plane crash, is irresistibly drawn to play Marian Graves. This role will lead her to uncover the real mystery behind the vanished pilot.
Maggie Shipstead
About the Author
Maggie Shipstead is an American novelist who lives in Los Angeles. She is shortlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize with Great Circle - her third novel.Video highlights
I’m sadly incapable of planning my books. I wish I could, but instead I just have to leap and then hope I’m able to resolve all the problems I create
Listen to an extract from Great Circle
Cassandra Campbell and Alex McKenna bring Maggie Shipstead’s Great Circle to life in the audiobook.
In Great Circle Shipstead conducts some glorious mythmaking of her own
