Outlander

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In 1945, Claire Randall and her husband Frank take a second honeymoon to the highlands of Scotland in order to get reacquainted after several long years apart due to WWII. However, shortly after the start of their journey, Claire "falls through" some cairn stones, and finds herself in 1743 Scotland... right around the time the Bonny Prince Charlie was making his name infamous.

She is abducted by a group of Scots almost immediately, and taken to a castle far from the stones she came through. She, being a nurse, finds a way to ingratiate herself in that she is able to help heal a young man, Jamie MacTavish (Fraser). Claire finds herself in a world of turmoil trying to blend with the time while making her way back to the stones.

SPOILER ALERT!

In a twist of fate, Claire is wedded to James Fraser, and finds her new husband a bit of a bear as she tries to get away from him, while still trying to help him.

But will Claire be able to help herself from falling in love with Jamie? Will she be able to make it back to the stones and her "Real" husband Frank? Or will she be stuck in 1743, with a man whom she doesn't know that she can really trust, facing a war that will have dire consequences on the country that she presently calls home.

END SPOILER

Outlander is a wonderful tale that allows a person living in the present to escape. Their is wonderful romance, but the whole store isn't really focused on that, and I wouldn't call it as a whole a romance novel.

The history in the novel is amazing, and from someone who's family came from Scotland in the early 1900's, it's amazing to be able to read about early Scottish history, and it really allows me to feel closer to my heritage.

Ms. Gabaldon has a way of weaving a background that really makes you feel like you're there, and I promise, from the first sentence, you will really care what happens to these people.

Every person who has read these books that I've talked to cannot help but fall in love with them. They may seem imposing at first, since they're all over a thousand pages, but they're very much worth the read.

Allow yourself to fall through time and voyage with Claire, and before long, who knows, maybe you too will fall in love with the highlands, and a young Scottish Highlander.

~♥~
Lady D