Great circle: A novel

by Sam Llewellyn

For climbers there is Everest. For sailors there is the Great Circle - a race round the world from Portsmouth, UK, leaving the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn to port.

In the Great Circle, men and women pit their wits against each other - and against the big, cold, violent sea.

Ed, UK, is racing for his reputation. Art, USA, is racing for his job. Tubes, Australia, is racing for the hell of it. Harriet is racing for love. And Emily is racing towards oblivion. For all of them and the rest of the crews, crossing the finish line first is only half the battle...

Set mostly at sea, Great Circle is a Sam Llewellyn favourite.

Genres: Travel, Fiction

396 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Sam Llewellyn is a British author of literature for children and adults.

Reviews

[Rupert Grech]

This was a long read (565 pages) but seemed much shorter as it was fast paced and the format, whereby the story flipped from boat to boat and character to character, made it interesting with never a dull moment. A glossary would have been helpful as there are too many sailing/yachting terms and the national stereotyping of the Australian characters was over the top but overall, a rollicking read.

[diana jeuda]

The sailing stuff is terrific. But the writing is dated. When I first started to read Sam Llewelyn I forgave him all the firm tits and lusty going ons. But life has changed and it feels deeply sexist and pretty boring. Nor does it add anything to the story line - it’s always deeply irrelevant.

[Lesley Webb]

Originally published in 1987, it was then that I read. Great solo Round the World yacht race adventure. Reread it again 10 years later.

[Debbie Jolley]

Too many sailing/yachting terms to make this fully accessible for all readers.
Could have done with greater focus on the characters and the storylines

[Stephen Turner]

Great offshore action

Love the insight into the world of long distance racing - and the collisions between characters from wildly varying social strata!

[Ram]

Much story and drama aboard the Great Circle yacht race by Sam Llewellyn.

More at

https://vramonline.wordpress.com/2024...

[Pete]

One of Llewellyn's best. A ranging, sprawling book about a round the world yacht race that keeps the pace up all the way through. The number of characters is high, but short snippets for each storyline keep things interesting. A variety of different heros and villans crew the boats, each with a distinct story. Enjoyed every minute of this.