Circling the Sun: A Novel

Product Information

Fritz Allhoff, Scott C. Lowe. The Philosophical Case Against Literal Truth: Russell's Teapot // Christmas - Philosophy for Everyone: Better Than a Lump of Coal. — John Wiley and Sons, 2010. — Т. 5. — P. 65–66. — 256 p. — (Philosophy for Everyone). — ISBN 9781444330908.

Why do you believe the author chose the title “Circling the Sun”? Does it bring to mind a particular moment from the novel or an aspect of Beryl’s character?I am huge fan of stories that capture how the place of one’s origin shapes our identity. The continuation of the cited passage, from early in the book, rises high on my pleasure meter: Amelia Earhart gets all the airtime, but this pilot had the juicier past. . .. McLain crafts a story readers won’t soon forget.” — Good Housekeeping Of course , the book's focus is Beryl, but there are many other fascinating people, many of whom are expats and the relationships they have to each other, many of which are extramarital. Everybody seemed to be in love with someone other than their spouse . And some men with multiple women as in the case of Denys Finch Hatton . But that was life in this tight Kenyan community. So many free spirited people or careless depending on your perspective . It's heartbreaking at times but oh so uplifting at others . You may not agree with everything Beryl did but what a life , what strength, what motivation to do what she wanted to do .

Beryl Markham (1902-1986) was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1936. She was the first female horse trainer in the world, producing one of the greatest victories in the history of racing. She was a free-spirited character. She may not be someone you identify with, but she was full of passion and worth of attention. “A woman who lived by her own code instead of society’s.” Something in McLain’s writing that really sings for me is her vision of how she came to see the tragedy of abandonment by her mother as an important wellspring for Markham’s character: It does seem like pure freedom,” I told him. “If you can forget the risk, that is.” “The fear never completely goes away. It makes everything sharper.” In 1904, a three year-old named Beryl moves from England to Kenya (before it was "Kenya") with her mother, father and brother. Two years later, her mother and older brother return to England (for reasons I am reluctant to reveal - no spoilers!), leaving Beryl in Kenya to be raised by her father, who trains horses and runs a farm. Growing up adjacent to and immersed in several families from the Kipsigis tribe, Beryl becomes an aspiring young warrior (having never absorbed Western expectations of girlhood), passionate racehorse trainer, and adventurer. We first meet her, in a flash-forward prologue, while she's performing her ultimate occupation: pilot.There is, however, one exception that gave astronomers a bit of a headache, and that is the precession of the orbit of Mercury. Mercury perihelion precession and the general relativity theory Beryl forges her own path as a horse trainer, and her uncommon style attracts the eye of the Happy Valley set, a decadent, bohemian community of European expats who live and love by their own set of rules. But it's the ruggedly charismatic Denys Finch Hatton who ultimately helps Beryl navigate the uncharted territory of her own heart. The intensity of their love reveals Beryl's truest self and her fate: to fly. I don't mind reading about narcissists, cheaters or idiots and their ridiculous life choices. They're types that are central in many of my favorite novels. But what's infuriating is when a selfish fool is held up as a role model for women, and when a tedious account of her affairs and intrigues is called a story that "transports you" to Kenya. The perihelions of all planets precess, which can mostly be explained by Isaac Newton's theory of gravity as a result of the pull of all other planets and moons in the solar system on one another, according to the Berkeley Lab. Brought to Kenya from England as a child and then abandoned by her mother, Beryl is raised by both her father and the native Kipsigis tribe who share his estate. Her unconventional upbringing transforms Beryl into a bold young woman with a fierce love of all things wild and an inherent understanding of nature's delicate balance. But even the wild child must grow up, and when everything Beryl knows and trusts dissolves, she is catapulted into a string of disastrous relationships.