A review by debs4jc
Circling the Sun by Paula McLain

3.0

A novelization of the life of Beryl Markham - a woman who I had never heard of before. Her claim to fame is that she was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean from east to west without any stops - which she did in 1936. The prologue to the book occurs during this flight and as Beryl goes through a crisis having to do with running out of fuel she recalls the events of her life that led her up to that point. I had never heard much about what it was like for British families who colonized Kenya and those parts of the book were pretty interesting. Beryl learned the ins and outs of tribal society and living in the wilds of Africa, and then later has to learn how to deal with British society. But she was never very conventional and her lifelong love of horses also led her to become a horse trainer at a time when women were outsiders in that field. She had many ups and downs on the romantic front as well and some of the poignant parts of the book were about her entanglements with men and how that and her father's monetary losses put her in situations where she was at the mercy of the men in her life - financially at least. I couldn't help but admire the resolve that helped her overcome these difficulties. While this book wasn't one that really stuck with me It was a very enjoyable read and I would recommend it to those who enjoy historical fiction and especially tales of strong, unconventional women.