Circling the Sun

Product Information

Imperative Entertainment has optioned Paula McLain‘s bestselling novel “Circling the Sun ,” which tells the tale of record-setting aviator Beryl Markham.

Circling the Sun by Paula McLain | Book of the Month Circling the Sun by Paula McLain | Book of the Month

But Markham only grows more annoying and selfish with age. She refuses to stop riding when she becomes pregnant, and this is held up as an example of an uncompromising lifestyle. She falls in love with a man after he throws some Whitman quotes her way, then hops into bed with another she doesn't care much about before he flees the country to escape scandal. She keeps talking about being financially independent, but keeps using men for money. Ahead of her time? Not when it comes to birth control. 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.

And yet. And yet. As Janis Joplin famously sang, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” At one pivotal soiree, one of the characters says, “It’s all just a little empty…I don’t understand that kind of sport.” Liberated from conventions and propriety, Beryl is untamable and often unlikable. The one constant is her self-absorption (e.g., her friendship with Karen Blixen and her betrayal of that friendship to pursue an affair with Fitch Haddon. Or her several marriages of convenience while loving the unattainable Denys.) Self-absorbed people can often be fun to be around…until they aren’t anymore. If it was a very long night, and sleep didn't come at all, I would let every guard down and think of Denys. Perhaps he was sloped in one of Karen's low leather chairs by the millstone table, reading Walt Whitman and listening to some new recording on the gramophone. Or in his storybook cottage at the Muthaiga, sipping at nice scotch, or off in the Congo, or in Musai country after ivory or kudu or lion, and looking up, just then, at the same tangle of stars I could see from my windows.

Circling Sun – Spirits (Album Review) - Folk Radio UK The Circling Sun – Spirits (Album Review) - Folk Radio UK

While she was popular in some ways (she was a business woman as well), she was also not highly regarded by some because she "didn't know her place" and she was far more adventurous than many of her contemporaries. Thus, to some men, she was very appealing, which in turn made other women insecure, particularly where their husbands or beaus were concerned. They had a right to be worried, as she was married three times and often had affairs. Even in the 1920's, her behavior was a bit extreme. 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) This novel is loosely based upon historical characters. Beryl Markham is an English girl who is raised by her parents who settle in Kenya. When she's young, she finds herself being raised by her absent father after her mom runs out on them. Basically all the neighbors end up raising the girl which opens her mind up to much of the native culture of Kenya. She's taught how to become a warrior. Markham is a wild child who resents her parents' distance. Born to last, she survives the rough upbringing of colonial Kenya, complete with a mauling by her neighbor's lion. After being sent to boarding school, she hides a poisonous snake in her governess' bed. Shortly after this she steals a horse from the school and runs away.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 Beryl Markham (1902-1986) was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1936. She was the first female horse trainer in the world, producing one of the greatest victories in the history of racing. She was a free-spirited character. She may not be someone you identify with, but she was full of passion and worth of attention. “A woman who lived by her own code instead of society’s.” Tom kept us up, tracing a wide circle over our valley towards Njoro to the east and Molo to the north. The tipoff the wing was like a bright, silvery wand. Watching it, I felt a whisper of hope and something like redemption. It wasn’t God I saw at this height, but my rift valley. It stretched in every direction like a map of my own life. Here were Karen’s hills, the flat shimmer of Nakuru in the distance, the high ragged lip of the escarpment. White-bellied bird and red dust. Everything I’d lived through lay unfurled below me, every secret and scar—where I’d learned to hunt and jump and ride like the wind; where I’d been devoured a little by a good lion; where arap Maini had stopped to point at a clover-leaf shaped print in the drying mud, saying, “Tell me what you see, Lakwet.” Circling The Sun caught my eye with its beautiful cover, first and foremost. I had this book for so long now, never got to it. It was time. Of course , the book's focus is Beryl, but there are many other fascinating people, many of whom are expats and the relationships they have to each other, many of which are extramarital. Everybody seemed to be in love with someone other than their spouse . And some men with multiple women as in the case of Denys Finch Hatton . But that was life in this tight Kenyan community. So many free spirited people or careless depending on your perspective . It's heartbreaking at times but oh so uplifting at others . You may not agree with everything Beryl did but what a life , what strength, what motivation to do what she wanted to do .