Circling the Sun: A Novel, by Paula McLain
Why must be book Circling The Sun: A Novel, By Paula McLain Publication is one of the very easy resources to look for. By getting the author and also theme to obtain, you can discover so many titles that offer their data to obtain. As this Circling The Sun: A Novel, By Paula McLain, the inspiring publication Circling The Sun: A Novel, By Paula McLain will certainly offer you what you should cover the job due date. And why should be in this site? We will certainly ask first, have you much more times to choose going shopping guides and look for the referred publication Circling The Sun: A Novel, By Paula McLain in publication establishment? Many people could not have sufficient time to discover it.
Circling the Sun: A Novel, by Paula McLain
Ebook PDF Online Circling the Sun: A Novel, by Paula McLain
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR, BOOKPAGE, AND SHELF AWARENESS • “Paula McLain is considered the new star of historical fiction, and for good reason. Fans of The Paris Wife will be captivated by Circling the Sun, which . . . is both beautifully written and utterly engrossing.”—Ann Patchett, Country LivingPaula McLain, author of the phenomenal bestseller The Paris Wife, now returns with her keenly anticipated new novel, transporting readers to colonial Kenya in the 1920s. Circling the Sun brings to life a fearless and captivating woman—Beryl Markham, a record-setting aviator caught up in a passionate love triangle with safari hunter Denys Finch Hatton and Karen Blixen, who as Isak Dinesen wrote the classic memoir Out of Africa.Brought to Kenya from England as a child and then abandoned by her mother, Beryl is raised by both her father and the native Kipsigis tribe who share his estate. Her unconventional upbringing transforms Beryl into a bold young woman with a fierce love of all things wild and an inherent understanding of nature’s delicate balance. But even the wild child must grow up, and when everything Beryl knows and trusts dissolves, she is catapulted into a string of disastrous relationships.Beryl forges her own path as a horse trainer, and her uncommon style attracts the eye of the Happy Valley set, a decadent, bohemian community of European expats who also live and love by their own set of rules. But it’s the ruggedly charismatic Denys Finch Hatton who ultimately helps Beryl navigate the uncharted territory of her own heart. The intensity of their love reveals Beryl’s truest self and her fate: to fly.Set against the majestic landscape of early-twentieth-century Africa, McLain’s powerful tale reveals the extraordinary adventures of a woman before her time, the exhilaration of freedom and its cost, and the tenacity of the human spirit.Praise for Circling the Sun“In McLain’s confident hands, Beryl Markham crackles to life, and we readers truly understand what made a woman so far ahead of her time believe she had the power to soar.”—Jodi Picoult, author of Leaving Time“Enchanting . . . a worthy heir to [Isak] Dinesen . . . Like Africa as it’s so gorgeously depicted here, this novel will never let you go.”—The Boston Globe“Famed aviator Beryl Markham is a novelist’s dream. . . . [A] wonderful portrait of a complex woman who lived—defiantly—on her own terms.”—People (Book of the Week)“Circling the Sun soars.”—Newsday“Captivating . . . [an] irresistible novel.”—The Seattle Times“Like its high-flying subject, Circling the Sun is audacious and glamorous and hard not to be drawn in by. Beryl Markham may have married more than once, but she was nobody’s wife.”—Entertainment Weekly“[An] eloquent evocation of Beryl’s daring life.”—O: The Oprah Magazine“Markham’s life is the stuff of legend. . . . McLain has created a voice that is lush and intricate to evoke a character who is enviably brave and independent.”—NPR“Bold, absorbing fiction.”—New York Daily News“Paula McLain has such a gift for bringing characters to life. I loved discovering the singular Beryl Markham, with all her strengths and passions and complexities.”—Jojo Moyes, author of Me Before You
Circling the Sun: A Novel, by Paula McLain - Amazon Sales Rank: #4551 in Books
- Brand: McLain, Paula
- Published on: 2015-07-28
- Released on: 2015-07-28
- Format: Deckle Edge
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.60" h x 1.10" w x 6.70" l, 1.25 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 384 pages
Circling the Sun: A Novel, by Paula McLain Amazon.com Review
An Amazon Best Book of July 2015: Sometimes a reader craves a good, old-fashioned yarn. This much anticipated novel from the author of The Paris Wife is exactly that: an engrossing story of love and adventure in colonial Africa, complete with gorgeous landscape, dissolute British ex-pats, and lots of derring-do with horses, motorcars and airplanes. That it is also the best kind of contemporary historical novel – the kind that teaches you something about the real people and events of the time – is a bonus. At the center of the novel is Beryl Markham (born – you gotta love it – Clutterbuck), the headstrong daughter of a British colonial who grew up more comfortable among the people and animals of her adopted Kenya than in the homes of its landed gentry. When Beryl’s mother leaves the family and her father gives up the farm, she marries (at 16) a gentleman farmer, a drunk too louche to be much of a husband. Like privileged but love-hungry teenage girls past and future, Beryl seeks companionship from her horses, becoming the first and greatest female horse trainer in the region. Along the way, she hobnobs with Kenyan high society, including, but not limited to, Karen Blixen (who authored her own epic story, Out of Africa, under the pen name Isaak Dinesen) and her lover Denys Finch Hatten (who will always be Robert Redford to those of us who watched him play the role in the movie version of Dinesen’s book.) Much bed-hopping and relationship-boundary-pushing ensue, with all the teeth-gnashing and yearning that goes along with it, no matter the era. Those who knew about Markham before reading this book may be surprised by how little there is about her as a pilot. She is, after all, the first woman to fly across the Atlantic from east to west, and she wrote her own memoir, 1942’s West with the Night; here, it is only in the book’s frame – a prologue and its final chapter – that we get a glimpse of the way that Beryl will, literally, soar. But McLain doesn’t seem interested in portraying her as a trailblazing feminist with an idea about changing the world; the Beryl Markham here is noteworthy precisely because she is NOT those things so much as a girl who grew up pushing back against conventions that got in her way. “But you’ve never been afraid of anything, have you?” Finch Hatten says to her in their last meeting. “I have, though,” she replies. “I’ve been terrified. . .I just haven’t let that stop me.” -- Sara Nelson
Review
“Paula McLain is considered the new star of historical fiction, and for good reason. Fans of The Paris Wife will be captivated by Circling the Sun, which . . . is both beautifully written and utterly engrossing.”—Ann Patchett, Country Living “Paula McLain cements herself as the writer of historical fictional memoir with Circling the Sun, giving vivid voice to Beryl Markham, a singular, extraordinary woman. In McLain’s confident hands, Markham crackles to life, and we readers truly understand what made a woman so far ahead of her time believe she had the power to soar.”—Jodi Picoult, author of Leaving Time “Enchanting . . . A worthy heir to [Isak] Dinesen, McLain will keep you from eating, sleeping, or checking your e-mail—though you might put these pages down just long enough to order airplane tickets to Nairobi. . . . What’s certain is that the reluctantly earthbound armchair reader will cherish this gift for the hidden adventurer in all of us. Like Africa as it’s so gorgeously depicted here, this novel will never let you go.”—The Boston Globe “Famed aviator Beryl Markham is a novelist’s dream. . . . [A] wonderful portrait of a complex woman who lived—defiantly—on her own terms.”—People (Book of the Week)“Circling the Sun soars.”—Newsday“Captivating . . . [an] irresistible novel.”—The Seattle Times“Like its high-flying subject, Circling the Sun is audacious and glamorous and hard not to be drawn in by. Beryl Markham may have married more than once, but she was nobody’s wife.”—Entertainment Weekly “[An] eloquent evocation of Beryl’s daring life.”—O: The Oprah Magazine“Richly textured . . . Markham’s life is the stuff of legend. . . . McLain has created a voice that is lush and intricate to evoke a character who is enviably brave and independent.”—NPR “Bold, absorbing fiction.”—New York Daily News“Paula McLain has such a gift for bringing characters to life. I loved discovering the singular Beryl Markham, with all her strengths and passions and complexities, a woman who persistently broke the rules, despite the personal cost. She’s a rebel in her own time, and a heroine for ours.”—Jojo Moyes, author of Me Before You“By the last pages, readers will hate to say goodbye to such an irresistible narrator.”—Miami Herald “Paula McLain brings Beryl to glorious life, portraying a woman with a great many flaws that seem to result from her zest for life and inability to follow the roles expected of women in the 1920s and ’30s.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch “Amelia Earhart gets all the airtime, but this pilot had the juicier past. . . . McLain crafts a story readers won’t soon forget.”—Good Housekeeping “With a sharp eye for detail and style to spare, Paula McLain captures the nuances of complex relationships, the rigidity of social conventions, and the wide skies and breathtaking vistas of Africa.”—Christina Baker Kline, author of Orphan Train “Set in 1920s Kenya, this fictionalized history of the beautiful, high-flying aviator Beryl Markham is as luminous as its headstrong heroine. An exhilarating ride.”—Family Circle“Paula McLain is yet another twenty-first-century woman who can write rings around the hyper-masculine men who dominate so much of American fiction.”—Liz Smith “McLain’s skill at blending fact and fiction, which dazzled readers in The Paris Wife, is on full display. . . . Circling the Sun is a masterful story of hardship, courage and love.”—Shelf Awareness
About the Author
Paula McLain is the author of the novels The Paris Wife and A Ticket to Ride, the memoir Like Family: Growing Up in Other People’s Houses, and two collections of poetry. She has received fellowships from Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She lives in Cleveland with her family.
Where to Download Circling the Sun: A Novel, by Paula McLain
Most helpful customer reviews
174 of 185 people found the following review helpful. Beryl Markham, horse trainer/pilot, and rival for Out of Africa's Denys Finch Hatton By Tracy Marks How do you evaluate a novel which is well-written, which convincingly portrays a remarkable real life heroine and her milieu, with believable dialogue, yet at the same time presents that heroine as unlikeable, and callous in personal relationships? And what if the other characters in the novel are one-dimensional? Such is my dilemma reviewing CIRCLING THE SUN. For the above reasons, my reaction to Paula McLain's latest novel is mixed.A few years earlier, I had read THE PARIS WIFE and believed McLain to be a talented writer. The subject of CIRCLING THE SUN overlapped the story told in Out of Africa, one of my favorite movies. I also was captivated by the beauty of CIRCLING THE SUN's book jacket – a 1920s woman on a rich, warm, golden background. So I decided to read the novel, and open myself to Beryl Markham's perspective.Admittedly, I was ambivalent from the start, because Beryl Markham was a rival to Karen Blixen in regard to Karen's love affair with Denys Finch Hatton. Karen Blixen, under the pseudonym Isak Dinesen, had described her life in Africa in her book OUT OF AFRICA, but in the book, the focus was more on Africa itself, rather than her affair with Denys. Likewise, Beryl Markham focused more on her accomplishments as a horse trainer and pilot in her own book, WEST WITH THE NIGHT, rather than her love for Denys.CIRCLING THE SUN, however, emphasizes personal relationships rather than accomplishments, although it does cover Beryl's development as a horse trainer. Although Beryl became famous as the first woman to fly east to west across the Atlantic, her experience as a pilot receives only cursory attention in the novel.McLain portrays Beryl, who was abandoned at age four by her mother, as a headstrong tomboy growing up in the wilds of Kenya, and eventually becoming the first licensed horse trainer there. Although from a fairly wealthy British expatriate family, her best friend as a child was a native boy of the Kisii tribe, whose company she preferred to other white families. She was never interested in preparing herself for a traditionally domestic female life.Beryl went after what she wanted, even when doing so meant hurting or betraying friends. As a young woman in post WWI British East Africa, she became a subject of scandal several times because of the carelessness with which she flaunted the norms of society – particularly in regard to her extramarital affairs. Yet this same lack of concern for what people thought of her enabled her to develop her mastery with horses and receive renown as a horse trainer and racer – a very unusual occupation for a woman of that time.CIRCLING THE SUN is likely to appeal most to readers who have seen OUT OF AFRICA and remember the Karen Blixen/Denys Finch Hatton relationship as portrayed by Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. A turning point in the film was Karen's jealousy of Denys' friendship with a young woman he promised to take flying. That was Beryl Markham, although the film fictionalized the situation. Likewise, CIRCLING THE SUN emphasizes the love triangle - although the relationship between Beryl and Denys is not particularly romantic and the circumstances of his illicit affair are not likely to win Beryl the adulation of women readers. More admirable is Beryl's achievements as horse trainer and pilot.But whether or not you warm to the main character, you are likely to appreciate McLain's skills at writing dialogue, and at presenting the British expatriate community in Kenya during the first few decades of the 1920s .Occasionally, McLain's Beryl even makes statements that led me to pause and reflect. "I've sometimes thought that being loved a little less than others can actually make a person rather than ruin them," Beryl says at one point. At another time, McLain writes in Beryl's voice, "'This is why there is poetry,' I said, so softly. I wasn't sure he could hear me. 'For days like these.' "Although McLain is more concerned with personal relationships than describing the environment, she does at times write lyrical descriptions and narrations: "The sun was an anvil on the top of my head, shoulders and neck, where fresh sweat poured and wetted my color. My clothes hung on me, the wet salt form my body drying in rings. I was breathing hard.....But we had our distance to cover. What was tiredness?"McLain's imagery is sometimes vivid and meaningful. Here, with an apt analogy, she captures for us the importance of personal freedom to both Beryl and Denys, neither of whom are willing to be confined: "Denys read on, his voice rising and falling, while a leopard moth that had got caught in the curtains stopped struggling for a moment, and realised it was free."Do I recommend CAPTURING THE SUN? Yes, I do, although you may, like me, have a mixed reaction to Beryl Markham and find most of the peripheral characters in the novel to be one-dimensional. But I read the book in less than 24 hours and didn't want to put it down. It will most likely hold your attention too, and deserves at least four stars for that.
131 of 143 people found the following review helpful. Stayed up all night to finish it. Well written story about a fascinating character. By pebbles (no spoilers) This first thing to remember about this book is that it is classified by its author as "historical fiction." I tried to keep this in mind while reading, but found it hard and distracting to try to figure out what was factual and what was not. Maybe not a great way to read this. I'm a big fan of Isak Dinesen's (Karen Blixen) writing and her story. I have read several books by her about her life and also Denys's. So I was naturally intrigued by this book since part of Beryl's life was intertwined with theirs. Beryl and Karen shared many personality traits and life experiences, with some glaring differences. In the movie portrayal of Karen's book, Out of Africa, Beryl makes a vague appearance in the character Felicity. Beryl Markham, was of course, a real, fascinating person and many of the events described in the book are true, just where that line gets blurred is hard to tell. Putting that aside, which I had to, I sincerely loved this book. It took a couple short reading sessions for it to get its hooks in me, but once it did, I stayed up all night to finish it.I am in awe of both of these women for they were true pioneers in many ways. Although Beryl didn't have a choice of where she grew up, it's clear she wouldn't have chosen any place else. This novel focuses more on her personal life and less on her public persona. It begins with her as a young child and follows her to early adulthood. "Growing up wild" as she did, she didn't see boundaries where so many people, especially women, saw in early 1900's. She only saw challenges to be overcome with hard work and determination. I admire her spirit and her courage. Her love life was confused and often painful. She made it through difficult times by focusing on the other things she loved, horses, and eventually flying. As a horse lover myself, I particularly enjoyed the author's descriptions of the horse and the races. Thrilling is the word that comes to mind.I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the time period, horses, or Kenya. It is also a romance, but that takes a backseat to the rest of her early life. It is very well written and flows nicely. I know I will read it again, perhaps in conjunction with re-reading Isak Dinensen's books. I will also seek out other books by this author. I loved her writing style.
174 of 196 people found the following review helpful. Sure to be a New York Times Bestseller! - No Spoilers - By Tell Me A Story Paula McLain has written another smash hit! "Circling the Sun" is an exquisite foray into historical fiction, engrossing the reader from the first sentence. Between the covers is the life story of Beryl Markham, a woman of remarkable and numerous accomplishments in the early 20th Century, which include being a female landowner (rare) and horse trainer of champion racers in Kenya (also unique), and author. She later becomes the first woman to fly cross the Atlantic from east to west, (Great Britain to N. America). This is certain to be a book that makes the New York Times Bestseller List for 2015 and undoubtedly, a feature movie in the future.Initially, the story starts at Beryl's abandonment by her mother and elder brother to return their native England, leaving Beryl in the hands of her father, who starting with little manages to gain notoriety within white society of Kenya. Beryl learns from a tender age, the theory and practical aspects of breeding and training racehorses and goes on to become famous in her own right. The story of how she starts with little to achieve great respect and admiration is a very involved tale. Soon she becomes friends with Karen Blixsen, a coffee plantation owner nearby and eventually Karen's lover, Denys Finch Hatton. Their complicated triangle of friendship and love has far reaching implications, particularly for Beryl. I promise I have not spoiled the story, that is why it is essential that you read it!McLain provides a thoroughly insightful look into the colony life and its struggles and secrets which are many. She writes a smooth story in linear fashion that is strong and powerfully gripping. If you like horses, this will be a close second to "Secretariat" as a favorite. Even if horses aren't particularly your bag, this story has such intriguing characters that your fascination with their behaviors will rush you to the finish line. All though their are many characters within the story, the primary characters are all richly developed; additionally, McLain manages to make them so dynamic that you won't become confused.This book is a keeper, not only do I recommend that you read it, it is something you will want to buy so that you will have it to read again!
See all 2673 customer reviews...
Circling the Sun: A Novel, by Paula McLain
Circling the Sun: A Novel, by Paula McLain PDF
Circling the Sun: A Novel, by Paula McLain iBooks
Circling the Sun: A Novel, by Paula McLain ePub
Circling the Sun: A Novel, by Paula McLain rtf
Circling the Sun: A Novel, by Paula McLain AZW
Circling the Sun: A Novel, by Paula McLain Kindle
Circling the Sun: A Novel, by Paula McLain
Circling the Sun: A Novel, by Paula McLain
Circling the Sun: A Novel, by Paula McLain
Circling the Sun: A Novel, by Paula McLain
