The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Shipstead, Maggie. Great Circle. First Edition. Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2021. Hardcover.

There are two plotlines in the novel: that of Marian Graves, an aviator in the twentieth century, and that of Hadley Baxter, an actress starring in a biopic about Marian that is filming in 2014-2015. Shipstead narrates Marian’s story primarily in the third-person, past tense, and Hadley’s story primarily in the first-person, past tense. There are 22 chapters devoted to Hadley’s story, but the bulk of the novel depicts Marian’s life. As a syntactical note: Marian’s story is parsed in titled chapters that contain subchapters, each of which are titled for the location and date of that moment in Marian’s life (e.g., Chapter: “Millionaire’s Row,” Subchapter: “Seattle; May 1931”). Hadley’s story is interspersed with Marian’s in titled chapters that include a subchapter titled by number (e.g., Chapter: “Red Herrings,” Subchapter: “Thirteen”).

Shipstead begins the story with a prelude in three parts. The novel opens with a philosophical description of what a “great circle” is, explaining how “points directly opposite each other…are intersected by an infinite number of great circles” (3). Then there is an excerpt from Marian’s logbook, dated March 1950 in Antarctica that suggests she expects her impending death. After this, there are a few pages of Hadley’s thoughts as she is about to begin filming for the movie, Peregrine, which is a biopic about Marian, who is presumed to have died in Antarctica. The story proper begins after these prefatory pages.

The first part of the book is a cursory chronicle of the lives of Marian’s parents: Addison and Annabel Graves. Addison is captain of the ship, The Josephina Eterna, owned by Lloyd Feiffer’s family. Addison and Annabel meet on The Josephina and have twins in 1914 – Jamie and Marian. The ship sinks on a voyage that December, in which Annabel presumably drowns and Addison flees with Jamie and Marian. Addison is sent to prison for desertion and sends his children to stay with his brother, Wallace, in Montana. Upon release in 1924, Addison goes to Montana to meet his children, but leaves in the morning after seeing them asleep.

The novel then introduces Hadley Baxter, a movie-star in LA in 2014 famous for her role in a movie-franchise called, Archangel. Her reputation is tarnished after a sex scandal, and the opportunity to play Marian in a biopic presents itself as a chance to renew her reputation. Hadley reflects on her childhood, realizing that, like Marian, she is an orphan raised by her uncle; Hadley’s parents presumably died in a plane crash when she was a young girl.
The story returns to Marian, depicting her childhood in Montana with her brother, Jamie, their friend, Caleb, and their uncle, Wallace. Marian is an adventurous child and one day meets a husband-wife duo of pilots – “barnstormers” – who fly to towns and perform aeronautics for livelihood. The wife, Trixie, takes Marian on a flight. Marian becomes enamored with flight and wants to be pilot, but thinks being a girl will make this difficult. She plans to pretend to be a boy. There is a tangential chapter about the legend of Sitting-in-the-Water-Grizzly – a Native American woman who pretends to be a man.

Marian begins to dress like a boy and drives trucks for small bootleg liquor operations. One day, she goes to a brothel for a deal and meets a bootlegger, Barclay Macqueen, who is stupefied by her. He offers to fund her efforts to become a pilot, but it is clear he is sexually attracted to her; Marian is apprehensive about accepting Barclay’s patronage. She eventually accepts Barclay’s offer, though, and takes flight lessons from a bootleg pilot, Trout Marx. Eventually, Barclay and Marian have sex, and she subsequently begins to fly bootleg routes for him. He tells her he wants to have children with her and for her to ultimately be his domestic wife. Marian expressly tells him she does not want that life.

The novel then depicts Jamie’s experience during a summer when he leaves Montana, promising to return for the beginning of the school year. He tramps his way to Seattle with a vague hope of seeing his father there. To make money, Jamie sketches people walking through public gardens. He meets a girl, Sarah Fahey, who is very wealthy. Her father offers Jamie a summertime job of cataloging his art collection. Jamie falls in love with Sarah during this time. He is ultimately kicked out of Mr. Fahey’s home when he refuses to eat steak at dinner (Mr. Fahey manages meatpacking), and his love for Sarah goes unrequited for the time being.

The novel resumes Hadley’s story. She has dinner with Redwood Feiffer (whose relative was Lloyd Feiffer, owner of The Josephina) at his house. They do not have sex but Hadley sleeps with him that night after they hallucinate on mushrooms. She is unsure about her feelings towards him and his towards her. Later, Hadley returns to Redwood’s for a dinner party he hosts. At the dinner, Hadley meets Adelaide Scott, an artist who tells Hadley she wants to call her and give her some information about Marian. Hadley also meets Redwood’s mother, Carol, who wrote a sensationalized account of Marian’s life, which book is the basis for the movie being filmed, Peregrine.

Marian marries Barclay in 1931 and moves into his family ranch, Bannockburn. The relationship is not healthy quite early on, and Marian wears a diaphragm to prevent pregnancy. Coincidentally, Marian is out walking one day and meets Caleb in the woods. He begins to act as currier for letters between Marian and Jamie. Marianne leaves Bannockburn one day to visit Jamie at their cottage in Montana (Wallace has entered a rehab program for alcoholism). She finds Jamie in a state of disarray, and it is apparent he too is an alcoholic. He has, however, begun to become a serious painter. When Marian returns to the ranch, Barclay is furious she snuck off, and he forcibly has sex with her after removing her diaphragm. Marian decides to flee Barclay once she realizes she is pregnant. She flies to Vancouver, where Jamie now lives. Jamie sends Marian to Seattle to meet Mrs. Fahey, intuitively assuming she can and will help Marian get a safe abortion. Marian gets the abortion and moves to Alaska under the alias, Jane Smith. She works as a freelance pilot for myriad jobs. Marian eventually learns that Barclay has gone to prison, and that Wallace has died.

By 1942, Marian, Caleb and Jamie prepare for WWII. Marian enters a branch of military aviation coordinated by Jackie Cochran for female pilots, Caleb enlists, and Jamie finds an opportunity as a combat-artist in the navy. Marian goes to England for training; there she meets Ruth Bloom. The two become friends and eventually lovers. It becomes apparent that Ruth is only married to Eddie, who is gay, for appearances. Jamie is stationed in Alaska, but during a military leave, visits Sarah Fahey in Seattle, where they have sex. Eventually, he is killed in a torpedo blast in Japan. The news devastates Marian, and she finds consolation in the presence of Caleb, who visits Marian after Jamie’s death. This severs the relationship between Marian and Ruth.

Meanwhile, Hadley’s plot primarily consists of her wondering if Redwood is attracted to her, the progress of the filming, and another sex scandal. However, Adelaide Scott eventually calls Hadley and offers to give her some of Marian’s letters that she possesses. Adelaide tells Marian that she is Jamie Grave’s biological daughter, whom he unwittingly had with Sarah Fahey. Hadley visits Adelaide and the two talk about the nature of art before Hadley begins to read Marian’s letters. She eventually visits a man named Joey in Hawaii to discuss Caleb. Sifting through photos, Hadley sees one of a man she thinks looks like Marian. She and Joey muse over the possibility of this being Marian, disguised as a man, but decide to keep this possible discovery between themselves. Hadley’s story concludes with her watching a screening of Peregrinewith Redwood, but, before this, she goes on a flight lesson.

Marian’s story resumes in 1948. Matilda Feiffer, recently widowed to Lloyd Feiffer, contacts Marian. She wants to make amends for Addison taking the blame for the sinking of The Josephina; it becomes apparent that Lloyd was using the ship for smuggling and benefited from the ship’s sinking. Marian accepts Matilda’s offer by asking Matilda to fund her flight from pole to pole. Matilda gives Marian a blank logbook to track her progress with; she operates a publishing house and tells Marian her logbook can one day be sold. This is ultimately discovered in Antarctica and published. Marian enlists Eddie Bloom to be her navigator on the flight. When the two reunite, Marian reflects upon Ruth’s death in a plane crash. In January 1950, Marian and Eddie begin their flight. Once in Antarctica, they contend with weather and frostbite. Eddie ultimately decides to stay in Antarctica and either freeze to death or get rescued by a ship. Marian flies onward but is forced to parachute off the plane. She lands ashore on a remote island, where two men agree to help her survive and keep her identity a secret. She lives her life as a farmer, pretending to be a man, while the rest of the world presumes her dead.