It might be odd to thank an inanimate entity, but I could not have surmounted the organizational challenges of this novel without the writing application Scrivener.
I can’t imagine muddling along these past years without the friendship of other writers. I cherish the daily text chatter of Manuel Gonzales, Margaret Lazarus Dean, and Ted Thompson and would be lost without their wit and insight. I’m thankful to Aja Gabel, Emma Rathbone, Joe Waechter, and Erica Lipez for being the core of my life in Los Angeles, and to Kirstin Valdez Quade and Jennifer duBois for being forever friends.
Finally, thank you, profoundly and always, to Rodney Russ, who gave me Antarctica.
A Note About the Author
Maggie Shipstead is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, a former Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, and the recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Her first novel, Seating Arrangements, was a New York Times best seller and the winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for First Fiction.
Great Circle
Maggie Shipstead
Reading Group Guide
1. Why do you think Marian wants to fly around the world? Have you ever wanted to take a major risk without quite knowing why?
2. What do you think Hadley wants from playing the role of Marian? Do you think her expectations are met?
3. How is Marian’s life shaped by her experiences of love? Do you think she really wants to love someone? What about Hadley?
4. What do you think is Marian’s idea of freedom? What is yours?
5. How does Marian’s relationship with her brother, Jamie, evolve over time? How would you react if you had a sibling like Marian?
6. Do you think Peregrine is going to be a good movie?
7. How do you think Marian was shaped by her unusual childhood? Do you think she was bruised or strengthened by the fact that she never knew her parents?
8. Hadley says that no story can ever be whole. What do you think she means?
9. Which friend or relative would you pass this book on to and why?
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