circling the sunA New York Times Best Seller by Paula McLain who is considered the new historical fiction author.  This is the life story of Beryl Markham, a real life heroine, who was abandoned by her mother and older brother and left in Africa with her father when she was quite young.  She helped her father build his race horse breeding farm.

Beryl grew up in the early 20th century in the part of Africa that became Kenya, when England was colonizing Africa with farms and coffee plantations.   She spent a lot of her time running free & wild with a young boy from an African tribe on her father’s estate.  She developed spirit and courage and knew no boundaries, only challenges.

She became a remarkable woman who trained champion race horses in Kenya and was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic from east to west.

Her love life was complicated and sad and ended up in a love triangle with her friend Karen and Karen’s lover, Denys. This story overlaps “Out of Africa”, which is Karen’s story.

Well written and engaging, this story will captivate you.

by Barbara Pottle