Monday, May 2, 2016

Circling the Sun

Author: Paula McLain 
Publisher: Ballantine Books, 2015
My Source: Louisville Free Public Library



Like the author’s previous book, The Paris Wife, the current book is another foray into historical fiction. The main character is based on the real life Beryl (Clutterbuck) Markham, an English woman who grew up in Kenya in the early 1900’s when it was a British colony.

When the story begins, Beryl’s mother has just abandoned her to return to England with her brother, leaving her father to raise her alone. Because she has no female role model until later in her development, Beryl doesn’t learn “girl things” and thus grows up in an unconventional way for a girl at that time. She instead learns how to care for and train racehorses on her father’s horse farm and how to track and hunt animals in the bush with her African friend, Kibii.


This was certain: I belonged on the farm and in the bush. I was part of the thorn trees and the high jutting escarpment, the bruised-looking hills thick with vegetation; the deep folds between the hills, and the high cornlike grasses. I had come alive here, as if I’d been given a second birth, and a truer one. This was my home, and though one day it would all trickle through my fingers like so much red dust, for as long as childhood lasted it was a heaven fitted exactly to me. A place I knew by heart. The one place in the world I’d been made for.


When she is a teenager, Beryl’s father encourages her to marry a local farmer much older than herself. The marriage fails and so begins the string of unsuccessful romantic relationships she has throughout her life. As a young woman, she learns through trial and error the social rules of the wealthy adult colonists of the time and often raises an eyebrow or two with her decisions. Beryl is continuously trying to figure out who she is and who she wants to be. She eventually finds success as the first female horse trainer in Africa during a time when most women didn’t even work outside the home. Beryl also becomes a pilot and the first woman to fly from Africa to North America alone. In my opinion, she could be considered a pioneer and a feminist.

I usually enjoy historical fiction, and this one did not disappoint. The descriptions of the land were vivid and beautifully detailed, but I felt the action of the story started out slowly. For me, it didn’t get interesting until she became an adult and found herself in complicated relationships with friends and lovers. As a female, I was inspired by the way Beryl forged a new path for women. By the end of the story I was fully engaged. For the readers interested in learning more about Beryl Markham, the author added references to other books and movies about Beryl’s life, including a memoir written by the woman herself.


                                                         Rating: 4 out of 5 high fives.

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