Great Circle (novel)

The novel consists of two parallel narratives about two fictional women. One is about the disappeared 20th-century aviator Marian Graves, while the other is about a 21st-century actress, Hadley Baxter, who is cast in the role of Marian for a film about her final flight. Hadley is shown struggling with the demands of being a Hollywood starlet while learning more about the life of Marian.[2][3] Hadley's narrative is told in the first-person, while Marian's sections are told in the third-person.[4]

Each of the narrative threads is arranged largely in chronological order and interleaved with the other thread at irregular intervals. At the outset two short sections act as prefaces, introducing the context of the two narratives. The first is the final entry of aviator Marian Graves's logbook, recorded just before the final leg of her around-the-world flight in 1950. The second preface is dated December 2014, depicting the last day of the shooting of a film about Marian Graves's flight around-the-world.

In the first thread, which follows events pertaining to the Graves family between 1909 and 1950, each section heading contains a date and a location. This part of the novel is related in 52 sections. In the second thread the chapters are numbered ("One" to "Twenty-Two") and cover events in 2014 in the life of the first-person narrator, Hadley Baxter, as well as flashbacks that describe her life up to that point.

Shipstead spent seven years writing Great Circle, starting in 2014.[5] In addition to writing, she spent this time completing research on early aviation, especially female aviators, and traveling to many of the locations in the book.[6] During the course of writing, Shipstead visited Antarctica twice and the Arctic five times.[7] In an interview she mentioned the importance of visiting Antarctica, saying, "I don't think I could have grasped sort of the precarious feeling of it and the scale of it without having seen that."[6] She also spent two months living in Missoula, Montana as research, including a trip over the valley in a 1927 Travel Air 6000.[5][7]

The book and the main character, Marian Graves, where inspired by Jean Batten, a female aviator from New Zealand. Shipstead got the idea for the book after seeing a statue of Batten at the Auckland Airport.[5]

Great Circle received very favorable reviews, with a cumulative "Rave" rating at the review aggregator website Book Marks, based on 23 book reviews from mainstream literary critics.[8] The novel debuted at number fourteen on The New York Times Hardcover fiction best-seller list for the week ending May 8, 2021.[9] Critics praised the novel for sustaining its length[10][11] and for Shipstead's research[12][13] and intricate novel structure for perfectly interweaving the parallel narratives, despite the time and circumstances separating them.[2][13]

In its starred review, Publishers Weekly wrote, "Shipstead manages to portray both Marian's and Hadley's expanded sense of consciousness as they push the boundaries inscribed around them [...] This is a stunning feat."[14] Kirkus Reviews, in its starred review, wrote that "Shipstead reveals breathtaking range and skill, expertly juggling a multigenerational historical epic and a scandal-soaked Hollywood satire." Kirkus also commented that "her research is as invisible as it should be, allowing a fully immersive experience."[13] Stephanie Merritt, for The Observer, wrote, "This is a novel that invites the reader to immerse themselves in the sweep of history, the rich and detailed research, and part of the pleasure is being carried along by the narrative through all its digressions and backstories."[12] Library Journal wrote that the novel "justifies its length, by its intricately designed plot and by giving its compelling cast of characters room to breathe."[11] Ron Charles of The Washington Post called it a "culturally rich story that takes full advantage of its extended length to explore the changing landscape of the 20th century." However, Charles lamented that the "extraordinary realism of Marian's chapters can make the broad strokes of Hadley's sections feel light in comparison."[10]

The novel was shortlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize,[15] and was later shortlisted for the 2022 Women's Prize for Fiction.[16] The novel was also longlisted for the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.[17]