#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.
I can’t say enough about this book. I was in love with it by the time I’d read 100 pages. In fact, it’s an 800+ page book and I read it in about 4 days. And I’ve *already* reread parts. I think I’ve read the final chapter 4 times now. I’m not sure what makes it affect me so. It’s very passionate, and the suspense in parts is so much that I think I stopped breathing. I mean, you’re pretty sure that certain people aren’t going to die, but you’re not *quite* sure. And at one point there’s a decision that has to be made, and there’s no foreshadowing of what that decision might be. Sometimes you can tell by the number of pages left in the book, but this could have gone either way. I almost stopped reading because I didn’t want her to make the choice I didn’t want!
Anyway, I am hooked. I went out on Monday and bought the next 4 books in the series, and I can’t tell you the last time I paid full price for paperbacks. I started the second book last night, and already my mind is racing!
