

Marian Graves is a female aviator from the first half of the 20th century who disappeared with her navigator Eddie in 1951 in an attempt to circumnavigate the globe by flying over both poles. Hadley Baxter is a present day young movie actress who lost both her parents in a plane crash at a young age and like Marian Graves, was raised by an alcoholic uncle. When Baxter is fired from her movie franchise, she gets an unexpected offer to play Graves in a biopic. The Great Circle tells the story of both women, although the bulk of it is devoted to Graves' life up to her final flight. Baxter makes intermittent appearances, looking for love and connection with people who don't seem capable of supplying it, but subtly making progress toward understanding herself and what she does and doesn't want. The connection between the two women is tenuous, but there is a "great circle" of sorts between them that is satisfying.
At 589 pages, it is an immersive novel, which was what I wanted.
Marian Graves is a female aviator from the first half of the 20th century who disappeared with her navigator Eddie in 1951 in an attempt to circumnavigate the globe by flying over both poles. Hadley Baxter is a present day young movie actress who lost both her parents in a plane crash at a young age and like Marian Graves, was raised by an alcoholic uncle. When Baxter is fired from her movie franchise, she gets an unexpected offer to play Graves in a biopic. The Great Circle tells the story of both women, although the bulk of it is devoted to Graves' life up to her final flight. Baxter makes intermittent appearances, looking for love and connection with people who don't seem capable of supplying it, but subtly making progress toward understanding herself and what she does and doesn't want. The connection between the two women is tenuous, but there is a "great circle" of sorts between them that is satisfying.
At 589 pages, it is an immersive novel, which was what I wanted.