Great Circle Summary
Maggie Shipstead

Great Circle Overview

Maggie Shipstead’s Great Circle depicts the parallel plotlines of two characters: Marian Graves, a young woman who becomes a pilot in the twentieth century, and Hadley Baxter, an actress starring in a biopic about Marian in the twenty-first century. The two women share a similar upbringing but lead different lives. Marian is strong-willed and contends with adversity ranging from sexism to the dangers of flight; Hadley is meek and passively accepts difficulties that are primarily self-inflicted by her behavior as a celebrity. The novel contrasts Marian’s active resistance towards the expectations of her gender with Hadley’s passive acceptance of these expectations.