#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.
The page count on this seems intimidating, but I enjoyed every word of Outlander. I was expecting to hit a few parts which would just drag on and bore me, but that wasn't then case at all. Even though every page didn't have action or romance, it was always interesting. The pacing was just right, and I felt like the story unfolded very naturally. Nothing was forced or rushed, or added gratuitously.
The romance between Claire and Jamie was not at all what I was expecting. In fact, at a few points it made me a bit uncomfortable. But I did enjoy how different it was; it kept it from being just another novel romance.
If I had to sum this book up in a single word, it would be epic. There was so much going on, a lot of detail, and could easily inspire its own HBO mini-series!
