Setting the Bar

Everyone has told me about Outlander (published as Cross-Stitch in the UK) and how if I loved anything Scottish, I had to read this historical romance/science fiction book by Diana Gabaldon.  And being that I’ve been on a Scottish kick as of late, I was willing to give it a try.

When the book starts, we meet Claire Randall (maiden name Beauchamp) in the town of Inverness in post World War II Scotland. She is traveling there in 1945 with her husband, historian Frank Randall, on a second honeymoon and so that he can do some research on his ancestor - Black Jack Randall, a captain in the British army in the 18th century. Claire finds a grouping of stones (think Stonehenge), where she mysteriously hears a buzzing after seeing a group of pagans performing their mysterious rituals around it. She touches the stones, blacks out and awakens to the sound of battle around her. Thinking it a re-enactment, which apparently is common in the area, she doesn’t feel disoriented at all until she tries to find her way back to the hotel. She notes that her ride is gone and the man that she meets, although he looks astoundingly like her husband, is in actuality Black Jack Randall. Claire is saved from Black Jack by Murtagh, a Highlander, who introduces her to the cast of MacKenzies and Frasers that she eventually marries into. Claire marries Jamie and they begin their adventures together, including a daring escape from a castle and an escape from a hanging. This first novel in the currently eight book series, is an integral step in the series because it introduces you to all of the main characters.

I couldn’t believe that this novel was over 600 pages because I quite honestly devoured it.  It feels as if you are transported to the Scottish Highlands during both time periods.  Ms. Gabaldon’s descriptions were phenomenal - she engages all of the reader’s senses in telling her story.  There is a lot of discussion about sex and rape in this novel, so if you don’t have the stomach for it, this may not be the novel for you. What I also really appreciated is that Ms. Gabaldon didn’t spend a whole lot of time with Claire’s disorientation in the time travelling part of the novel. What time she did spend could have been cut a little shorter - any more would have been over the top and tedious. Claire and Jamie were both well-drawn. Claire is a well rounded and resourceful heroine who grows and deepens throughout the novel, with each step that she takes. Jamie, too, learns a lot about himself during the course of his interactions in the novel and I can appreciate that very, very much.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

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