Great Circle

A week after her visit to Redwood Feiffer’s house, Hadley attends a rehearsal script reading. She is still confused about the night they spent together, though nothing really happened. That night, she calls an old friend named Mark. They slept together many times before, and Mark is still in the house when a journalist arrives the next day to interview Hadley about the film. 

In British Columbia in June 1932, Marian flies Jamie into Canada on one of her smuggling flights. She told Macqueen that she has forgiven him, though she has begun to make secret plans. In Canada, Marian leaves Jamie with a woman named Geraldine, with whom she stayed when she first flew over the ocean a year before. Marian departs quickly in the hope that Macqueen will not notice her absence. 

In 1932, Macqueen finds Marian’s replacement diaphragm. He beats her and breaks it. He threatens to burn her plane—and Marian threatens suicide if he does so. She becomes “hollow and inert and uncanny” (249) when he rapes her, attempting to impregnate her. Marian does not become pregnant. One day, Caleb delivers her a message from Jamie, whose health is improving. Marian reads the letter and learns about Jamie’s relative success as well as his romantic attachment to Geraldine.