Circling the Sun

Set in colonial Kenya in the 1920s, Paula McLain's novel is built around Beryl Markham, the record-setting aviator. Brought from England as a child by parents who hoped to farm in Africa, Beryl is abandoned by her mother and raised by her father and the Kipsigis people who share his estate. The upbringing makes her bold and devoted to the wild. As a young woman she makes her own way as a horse trainer amid the decadent Happy Valley set of European expatriates. The 2015 novel was a Richard & Judy Book Club pick.

Serial entrepreneur Fabrice Grinda included it in the list of recommended books he shared in a profile of his reading habits.