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Content snapshot
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Violence
Some
Wartime violence in the historical timeline; crashes and their aftermath
Language
Some
Moderate language in both eras
Sexual Content
A lot
Explicit sexual relationships in both timelines; Marian and Hadley's adult lives include frank intimacy
Substance Use
Some
Heavy drinking in 1920s–30s context; Hadley's substance use in the modern timeline
Emotional Intensity
Some
The cost of ambition, chosen isolation as a form of freedom, women defined by what they pursue
What this book is about
Marian Graves vanished attempting a polar circumnavigation in 1950. Decades later, troubled young actress Hadley Baxter is cast to play her in a biopic and becomes obsessed with who Marian actually was. Maggie Shipstead's sweeping dual-timeline novel follows Marian from her orphaned childhood in Montana through barnstorming, Prohibition, WWII, and finally her ill-fated flight — a life of radical freedom that cost her everything except her dignity.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
explicit sexual content across both timelines
heavy drinking as cultural element
wartime violence
Reader Verification
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