Paula McClain

Library Author Series: Paula McLain

Thursday, October 1, 2015 - 6:30pm to 8:00pm
  • Library Hall

Join us in celebrating the return of beloved Literary Sojourn author Paula McLain with her much anticipated new historical novel, Circling the Sun.

Circling the Sun

The New York Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed novel The Paris Wife, returns with a new novel that tells the tale of Beryl Markham, known for her 1942 memoir, West With the Night, and brings this remarkable woman out of obscurity. 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.

The world is 1920’s Kenya, where a glamorous and decadent circle of British expats have carved out a toe-hold of civilization at the edge of the boundless frontier. Abandoned by her mother and inspired by the dangerous beauty around her, Beryl grows into a fierce young woman driven to prove her courage and win independence at any cost. She becomes the first woman to earn her license as a professional racehorse trainer (at 18!); one of the very first people in Africa, and the world, to have a commercial pilot’s license; and the first bush pilot to successfully scout game from the air for safari hunters under impossibly dangerous circumstances.

But the terrain Beryl can’t seem to conquer is her own heart. When she meets safari hunter Denys Finch Hatton (immortalized in Out of Africa), and the Danish author Karen Blixen, she’s catapulted into a passionate love triangle that will change the course of her life. Though neither Blixen or Markham publicly acknowledged the relationship in their lifetime, it seared and altered them both, and set Beryl on a course to tackle her greatest adventure yet, flying the Atlantic east to west in 1936, two-thousand feet above the icy waves, without radio contact, alone in the dark for twenty-four hours, trusting her instruments and her instincts.

Photo by Nina Subin

About the author
Paula McLain is the author of the novels The Paris Wife and A Ticket to Ride, the memoir Like Family: Growing Up in Other People’s Houses, and two collections of poetry. She has received fellowships from Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She lives in Cleveland with her family.

This community talk is free.

About the Library Author Series
Bud Werner Memorial Library presents an ongoing program of author talks throughout the year. These are free community events held in Library Hall, where a diverse award-winning range of visiting authors speak about their literary works and their writing processes. Each talk is followed by a Q&A and an opportunity to have authors sign copies of their books.

Books will be available for sale and author signing courtesy of Off the Beaten Path Bookstore.