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Great Circle

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Great Circle

By: Maggie Shipstead
Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Alex McKenna
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2021

Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2022

I was born to be a wanderer.

From the night she is rescued as a baby out of the flames of a sinking ship, to the day she joins a pair of daredevil pilots looping and diving over the rugged forests of her childhood, to the thrill of flying Spitfires during the war, the life of Marian Graves has always been marked by a lust for freedom and danger.

In 1950, she embarks on her life's dream - to fly a Great Circle around the globe, pole to pole. But after a crash landing, she finds herself stranded on the Antarctic ice without enough fuel. With one fearsome piece of water separating her from completion of the Circle, she writes one last entry in her logbook.

She is ready for her final journey.

Half a century later, Hadley Baxter, a brilliant, troubled Hollywood starlet is irresistibly drawn to play Marian Graves, a role that will lead her to probe the deepest mysteries of the vanished pilot's life.

Great Circle is an enthralling journey over oceans and continents and a drama of exhilarating power. Combining unforgettable characters and thrilling suspense, it is a sweeping story of loss and obsession, sacrifice and survival, of the unknowable mysteries of freedom, love and life itself.

©2020 Maggie Shipstead (P)2020 Penguin Audio
20th Century Historical Fiction World Literature Fiction Aviation War Native American Mystery

Critic Reviews

"Ferociously clever." (Guardian)

"Joyously good." (Daily Mail)

"Impressive." (Jeffrey Eugenides)

All stars
Most relevant
an epic of a story but so so worth it. while some details, characters, and storylines may seem irrelevant it all ties together in some way, shape or form to complete a brilliant story. the emotional honesty and complexity was gripping.

epic.

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Didn't want it to end, great character development and has twists along the way. Was slightly slow I'm the middle, in Marion's married days but winds up again.

loved it! Ripping yarn well narrated.

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Loved this book and all its interwoven characters. Settle in, because it’s long. I’d love to revisit the modern sections - those characters just spring off the page

A brilliantly executed historical fiction

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I loved every winding second of this story. One of the best books I’ve ever had the pleasure of getting lost in. Both the story and the narration were fantastic.

Epic adventure

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For such an epic novel, it kept me enthralled from the first page to the last. A worthy shortlist of the Man Booker 2021, should have won in my opinion. the narrators were both incredible, managing to portray many different characters with skill and ease. Highly recommend this book and this particular audio version.

I could give this 500 stars!

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