Circling the Sun: A Novel

Paula McLain, author of the phenomenal New York Times bestseller The Paris Wife, now returns with her keenly anticipated new novel. Transporting readers to Kenya in the 1920s, Circling the Sun breathes life into a fearless and captivating young woman—Beryl Markham, a record-setting aviator whose passionate love triangle with safari hunter Denys Finch Hatton and Karen Blixen, author of Out of Africa, awakens Beryl to her truest self and her fate: to fly.

Brought to Kenya as a child and then abandoned by her mother, Beryl is raised both by her father and the native Kipsigis tribe on her father’s land. Her unconventional upbringing transforms her into a bold young woman, with a love of all things wild, but everything she knows and trusts dissolves when her father’s farm goes bankrupt. Reeling from the loss, Beryl is catapulted into a string of disastrous relationships. Finally she makes the courageous decision to forge her own rugged path as a horse trainer, shocking high society in the process. The British colony has never seen a woman as determined and fiery as Beryl. Before long, she catches the eye of the fascinating and bohemian Happy Valley set, including writer Karen Blixen and her lover Denys Finch Hatton. The three become embroiled in a complex triangle that changes the course of Beryl’s life. Set against the majestic East African landscape, McLain’s gorgeous tale reveals the extraordinary adventures of a woman before her time, the exhilaration of freedom—and its cost.

PAULA MCLAIN is the author of The Paris Wife, as well as two collections of poetry; a memoir, Like Family: Growing Up in Other People’s Houses; and a first novel, A Ticket to Ride. She received her MFA in poetry from the University of Michigan and has been awarded fellowships from Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She lives in Cleveland with her family.