Kilbourn Public Library Book Club

The Kilbourn Public Library Book Discussion Group is reading Circling the Sun by Paula McLain for the July book selection. 

Circling the Sun brings to life a fearless and captivating woman--Beryl Markham, a record-setting aviator caught up in a passionate love triangle with safari hunter Deny Finch Hatton and Karen Blixen, who as Isak Dinesen wrote the classic memoir Out of Africa.

Set against the majestic landscape of early-twentieth-century Africa, McLain's powerful tale reveals the extraordinary adventures of a woman before her time, the exhilaration of freedom and its cost, and the tenacity of the human spirit. (From the publisher.)

While it is clear he loved his daughter, do you feel Beryl's father was a good parent?  Do you think Beryl would have said he was?  Did you sympathize with him at any point?

Beryl is forced to be independent from a very young age.  How do you think this shaped her personality (for better or for worse)?

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?

When Beryl becomes a mother herself, she is determined not to act as her own mother did.  Do you feel she succeeds?  How does motherhood spur her decision to exchange horse training for flying?  Could you identify with this choice?

After Paddy the lion attacks Beryl, Bishon Singh says, "Perhaps you were never meant for him."  Do you think that Beryl truly discovered what she was meant for by the end of the novel?

(Questions from the author's website.)

Let us know what you think of Circling the Sun.