June was National Audiobook month, and in that spirit I dove into Paula McLain’s latest best-selling novel, “Circling the Sun.” The novel fictionalizes the chronicles of real life horse trainer, pilot and adventurer Beryl Markham and her upbringing in colonial Kenya. Katherine McEwan’s narration sets a polished tone and takes the listener back to a time when “Bright Young Things” sipped champagne at night and awoke to hunt elephants on safari.
Beryl Markham’s life has been portrayed before, notably due to her connection to Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke in “Out of Africa,” and in her own memoir “West With the Night.” McLain takes her out of the shadow of other figures and places her squarely at the center of a complicated and fearless life story.
From a childhood on a horse ranch growing up alongside the local Kikuyu children, to her controversial career as a champion horse trainer and aviation pioneer, Markham’s life was filled with enough adventure to satisfy Hemmingway. “Circling the Sun” looks over Markham’s shoulder as she struggles to have her outstanding talents taken seriously in a chauvinistic society. Throughout the novel, Markham fights the constraints of her time both professionally and personally, muddling through marriages and love affairs in an effort to find an honest way of living.
And though Markham’s reputation has always been shaded in scandal, McLain does nothing to shy away from that. Indeed, the author uses the notoriety of Markham’s life to illustrate exactly how threatening a figure she was to her culture, as an unconventional and adventurous woman. And while not always a completely sympathetic character, Markham lives life entirely on her own terms, with honesty and integrity.
Throughout the audio edition, McEwan’s reserved English cadence brings a confidence to Markham’s choices. Ever steady and unperturbed, despite upsets and setbacks, the narration gives you a sense of Markham’s fiery spirit beneath her polished exterior. McEwan has a way of pronouncing the names of the African rivers and mountains, as though rolling the words around in her mouth, that heightens the romance of Markham’s surroundings.
“Circling the Sun” is only one of hundreds of audiobooks available free through the MidYork Library’s Library2Go App. If you’re like me and find yourself jogging, cooking or driving through a large portion of your day, an audiobook is the perfect companion. Instead of paying a monthly fee to an audio and ebook subscription service, I recommend you try downloading a title to your device of choice from the library. It won’t use your data and there are no late fees. The popularity of audiobooks is on the rise and with compelling bestsellers like “Circling the Sun,” it’s easy to see why.
