Book Review 18: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Title: Outlander  
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Release Date: 01 July 1991

The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former 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 border clans in the year of Our Lord . . . 1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life, and shatter her heart. For here James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire—and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

Rating: 5/5

Review:

I am not a fan of historical romances but after weeks of prodding from PakwanStripes who’s such a huge fan (and the physical therapist who missed my scheduled session), I finally started reading Outlander. And kept on reading. And reading. And reading. This book is so disturbingly addictive that I just need to find out what’s going to happen next (to Jamie mostly).

The main characters are Claire and Jamie. Claire belongs to the 1940’s but she gets thrown back 200 years after walking through a stone circle. She finds herself in Scotland and meets Jamie who has a bounty on his head. They get married out of necessity, and the book tells about their life together and how Claire tries to use what she knows as history to try and change the past that she’s currently in. If you thought that life in the 1700’s was much simpler, Ms. Gabaldon will make you think again. She’s got details for everything from the medical treatments to the superstitions to the torture that will make you feel like you’re walking with Claire and Jamie (and all the unwashed inhabitants in the leochs) through every funny and excruciating step they take in order to save lives.

Outlander is the perfect diversion for when you want to forget the present for a bit and go traipsing through the Scottish highlands with Claire and Jamie, and the rest of the highland bunch. I’m already on the third book, Voyager, and I still cannot put my tablet down.