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 Living
Paula 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 her 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 e: 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
From the Hardcover edition.