#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The first book in Diana Gabaldon’s acclaimed Outlander saga, the basis for the Starz original series.
One of the top ten best-loved novels in America, as seen on PBS’s The Great American Read!
Unrivaled storytelling. Unforgettable characters. Rich historical detail. These are the hallmarks of Diana Gabaldon’s work. Her New York Times bestselling Outlander novels have earned the praise of critics and captured the hearts of millions of fans. Here is the story that started it all, introducing two remarkable characters, Claire Beauchamp Randall and Jamie Fraser, in a spellbinding novel of passion and history that combines exhilarating adventure with a love story for the ages.
Scottish Highlands, 1945. Claire Randall, a former British combat nurse, is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an “outlander”—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding clans in the year of Our Lord . . . 1743.
Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of a world that threatens her life, and may shatter her heart. Marooned amid danger, passion, and violence, Claire learns her only chance of safety lies in Jamie Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior. What begins in compulsion becomes urgent need, and Claire finds herself torn between two very different men, in two irreconcilable lives.
Frank and Claire Randell have been married for eight years but have been separated by WWII. At the war's end the two take a second honeymoon to Scotland. During an early morning walk Claire gets time warped to the 1700s. There she runs into Frank's Great-great-great Grandfather Jonathon Randell. The two do not strike it off very well leaving Claire to play hide and go seek. During their game she runs into Jamie member of the Mackenzie clan. More out of convince than love the two marry like an Alien trying to stay in the United States. Of course the two fall madly in love after their vows and go on crazy adventures throughout Scotland and make love in their spare time.
I'm going to make this short and sweet. I did not like this book. At times it felt more like a harlequin romance rather than historical fiction or fantasy. Hype can be a good thing but in this case it set my expectations too high so I think that was part of my dislike toward Outlander. To be perfectly honest, I couldn't wait for her to go back to 1945.
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4 April, 2009:
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