Music Hall's Writers in the Loft to Feature Paula McLain, 7/30

The Music Hall's Writers in the Loft series will present the New York Times bestselling author Paula McLain on Thursday, July 30, 2015. Ms. McLain will share her highly anticipated new work, CIRCLING THE SUN, a historical novel based on the real life of the dazzling Beryl Markham and her adventures as a pilot, racehorse trainer, and lover among a glamorous and decadent circle of British expats in 1920s Kenya.

The 7pm event includes an author presentation and moderated Q+A, plus book signing and meet-and-greet. It will be held at the Music Hall Loft at 131 Congress Street, in downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Enticing and unforgettable, CIRCLING THE SUN explores the struggle to achieve true freedom and love through the voice and spirit of Beryl Markham. Through her passionate and heart-pounding storytelling, Paula McLain brings to life this inspiring, brave, and complicated woman. She masterfully guides readers through Markam's remarkable life story, from her untamed childhood to and later-in-life love affairs that tested and changed her forever.

"Readers who were entranced by The Paris Wife and Hadley Richardson's Parisian counterparts in the "lost generation" will once again be rapturously engaged in the life and times of Beryl Markam and her world of ex-pats in South Africa," said Margaret Talcott, Producer of the Writers in the Loft series and the evening's moderator. "I look forward to hearing from Ms. McLain about her female characters and her talent in presenting such captivating and compelling stories. She is a true master of historical memoir."

ABOUT THE BOOK

In 1920s Kenya, where a glamorous and decadent circle of British expats have carved out a toe-hold of civilization at the edge of the boundless frontier, Beryl Markham, abandoned by her mother and inspired by the dangerous beauty around her, grows into a fierce young woman driven to prove her courage and win independence at any cost. She becomes the first woman to earn her license as a professional racehorse trainer, one of the very first people in Africa, and the world, to have a commercial pilot's license, and the first bush pilot to successfully scout game from the air for safari hunters under impossibly dangerous circumstances.

As accomplished as she is, she is challenged in one arena: the terrain of her own heart is the one thing Beryl cannot conquer. When she meets safari hunter Denys Finch Hatton (immortalized in Out of Africa), and the Danish author Karen Blixen, she is catapulted into a passionate love triangle that will change the course of her life. Though neither Blixen nor Markham publically acknowledged the relationship in their lifetime, it seared and altered them both, and set Beryl on a course to tackle her greatest adventure yet: flying the Atlantic east to west in 1936, two-thousand feet above the icy waves, without radio contact. She was alone in the dark for twenty-four hours, trusting her instruments and her instincts.

PAULA MCLAIN is the author of the novels The Paris Wife and A Ticket to Ride, the memoir Like Family: Growing Up in Other People's Houses, and two collections of poetry. She has received fellowships from Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She lives in Cleveland with her family.

The ticket package for Writers in the Loft: Paula McLain on Thursday, July 30, at 7pm is $42. In addition to a reserved seat, the package includes a copy of CIRCLING THE SUN (hardcover, $28), a bar beverage, and book signing meet-and-greet. Packages can be purchased through The Music Hall Box Office, located at 28 Chestnut Street, Portsmouth, over the phone at 603.436.2400, or online at www.themusichall.org

MUSIC HALL SEASON SPONSORS: River House Restaurant; Carey & Giampa, Realtors; Residences at Portwalk Place

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