Review: Circling the Sun - Paula McLaine

I feel very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to review this book and have rated this 5 stars.  I have never read anything by Paula McLain however, after reading this book I have added her title “The Paris Wife” about Ernest Hemingway’s first wife to my pile.

This book is a work of historical fiction however, most of the characters are based around real people and both pictures and further information on them can be found on the internet and through other works of fiction and non-fiction.

It is not necessary to have read “Out of Africa”to enjoy this book however, having read it, if you enjoyed this you may wish add this title to your list.

"We must leave our mark on life while we have it in our power" - Karen Blixen

The beginning of this book opens with beautifully atmospheric and descriptive writing on the main character Beryl’s preparations and take off for a record attempt at being the first women to fly the Europe to Atlantic route.  Before transporting you back to the eyes of a 4 year old girl being introduced to the African tundra.  This is portrayed in such beautifully written prose it transported me back to my own memories of Kenya when I was fortunate enough to visit in 2009.

Part One of the book focuses on Beryl Clutterbuck’s childhood years when she was under the sole custody of her father and thus was able to enjoy the environment with the wild abandon of a boy, playing, riding and fighting with her tribal friend Kibii, but as with most things in life her freedom is soon reigned in when she reaches her teenage years and it is suggested by Lady Florence Delaware that some education should be considered.

At this point we see Beryl strike back at the restrictive nature of her father’s insistence to several housekeepers, governesses and schools.  Fighting the constricting nature of book learning, shoes, dresses and ribbons in her hair ditching them at any given opportunity to wear her tribal shuka.

Eventually when Emma joins as her Housekeeper, Beryl has to conform to the changes Emma implements with her father’s approval and for a while things seem more at ease in her life.

Beryl and her father breed racehorses and Paula frequently uses the feisty nature of a wild horse in her prose to that of Beryl’s youth compelling you to root for Beryl’s more rambunctious nature to overcome the conformity of females at that time.

Part Two then progresses into the years of a young women and shows her for the first time the harsh realities of life on a farm in Kenya.

Her introduction to Kenyan society at age 16 takes place in a hotel in Nairobi it is here that she meets Jock Purves and her life takes a whirlwind twist of direction.  Beryl is clearly unaware of her beauty and her attractiveness to men and it is at this event that she first meets Denys Finch Hatton.

Beryl’s character is now set and she struggles to adapt to her new life once her father and Emma leave.  It doesn’t take long for her impetuous nature to draw her away from her new home to follow her path to be a horse trainer which with her unthinking and single-minded personality.  It is at this time she meets and befriends Karen Blixen and stays with her and Denys at Ngong House.  Events and gossip within the British colony are rife having a severe impact on Beryl’s reputation and standing in the community and she departs for England for a time.

Me at Ngong House the home of Karen Blixen still beautifully maintained,

Some remaining equipment from her coffee grinding farm are still on site.

Part Three focuses initially on her meeting a gentlemen of the "Happy Valley Set" and returning with him to Kenya however, after a frightening encounter with the famously hedonistic elite she seems to have an epiphany about where she wants her life to go.

She returns to her life of horse training and begins to rebuild both her stable of horses and her reputation it is during this time that she meets her second husband and is given a chance to rebuild something she felt she lost.

But as with everything in Beryls wild nature events take over and her response to the circumstances both show her strength of character.

"I learned to watch, to put my trust in other hands than mine.  And I learned to wander.  I learned what every dreaming child needs to know - that the horizon is so far that you cannot get above it or beyond it.  These I learned at one.  But most things came harder" - Beryl Markham (West with the Night).

It is hard not to think of those times without viewing it with the sepia tint of time.  The reality and realistic hardships both within Kenya as a whole and during the time Beryl first arrived were extremely barren and dangerous.  Little was fully understood or appreciated about the land at that time being new to English colonists.

Since these times turbulent political events have ravished the people and its country, there is a massive area of fallen down shanties that dominates the Nairobi landscape and should be remembered.

However, despite all of this and my own exposure to the wild beauty of this country.  It is hard not to fall in love with the stories of those times and Beryl herself as a character.

Like Out of Africa, this book will live within my soul and I have no doubt will read more on this time and area in the future.

**provided to me by NetGalley for a true and honest review**