We sat down with the writer to learn more about her inspiration behind the book and how she folded in her own real-life travel experiences. Shipstead is best known for her two previous novels-her bestselling debut, 2012’s Seating Arrangements, and 2014’s Astonish Me, winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize-and says she’d been working loosely on another novel when she had the idea for Great Circle. We feel their closeness as they share similar struggles and ambitions. Even though the two women are separated by time and geography, we come to know more about each one through alternating perspectives: Marian’s story told in third person, Hadley’s in first.
It is hardly surprising, then, that I tore through my copy of Maggie Shipstead’s ambitious new novel, Great Circle-our May AFAReads selection-which weaves together the stories of two women: famous aviator Marian Graves, who disappears on a flight to the north and south poles, and actress Hadley Baxter, who is hired a century later to portray Marian in a film. At a time when I wasn’t flying, soaring and spinning through the sky via the escapades of these women was a fitting substitute-no airsickness included. Off I went, full throttle into the achievements and legacies of women pilots like Florence Klingensmith, Amy Johnson, and Katherine Cheung. I’d known of Bessie Coleman and Amelia Earhart, sure, but as I learned more about Bland, I realized how unfamiliar I was with the myriad other women who had made aviation history. In 2020, I spent months researching the life of pioneering aviator Lilian Bland.
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