Outlander (Outlander Series #1)

( 3568 )

Overview

Claire Randall is leading a double life. She has a husband in one century, and a lover in another...

In 1945, Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon--when she innocently touches a boulder in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach--an "outlander"--in a ...
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Outlander (Outlander Series #1)

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More About This Book

Overview

Claire Randall is leading a double life. She has a husband in one century, and a lover in another...

In 1945, Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon--when she innocently touches a boulder in one of the ancient stone 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's destiny in soon inextricably intertwined with Clan MacKenzie and the forbidden Castle Leoch. She is catapulted without warning 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 passion so fierce and a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire...and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

Her husband is two centuries away, she is related to her lover's mortal enemy, and her neighbors think she's a witch. In this unforgettable novel of time travel, Diana Gabaldon fuses wry, modern sensibility with the drama, passion, and violence of eighteenth century as she tells the story of one daring woman and the man who loves her.

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Editorial Reviews

Library Journal
After being separated by seven years of World War II, Claire and Frank Randall return to the Scottish Highlands for a second honeymoon. Left to her own devices while her husband immerses himself in historical pursuits, Claire inadvertently enters a circle of standing stones and is plunged back 200 years to a Scotland on the verge of the second Jacobite uprising. Her pluck and skill as a nurse win the Scots' grudging respect, but only marriage to a Scot will save her from the clutches of Frank's vicious forbear, Black Jack Randall. Though first novelist Gabaldon uses time travel primarily to allow a modern heroine, this is basically a richly textured historical novel with an unusual and compelling love story. The author, an assistant professor of research in environmental studies, was encouraged to publish by fellow users of CompuServe and has two more books contracted. If these fulfill the promise of the first, they should win a devoted audience. Literary Guild alternate; Doubleday Book Club main selection.-- Cynthia Johnson Whealler, Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, Mass.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780440212560
  • Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
  • Publication date: 6/28/1992
  • Series: Outlander Series , #1
  • Format: Mass Market Paperback
  • Edition description: Reissue
  • Edition number: 1
  • Pages: 896
  • Sales rank: 467
  • Product dimensions: 4.20 (w) x 6.87 (h) x 1.48 (d)

Meet the Author

Diana Gabaldon

Diana Gabaldon holds a master's degree in marine biology and a Ph.D. in ecology, and spent a dozen years as a university professor before turning to write fiction full-time. Her previous publishing history includes scholarly articles and comic book stories for Walt Disney, as well as the award-winning novels Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, and Voyager. She lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, with her husband, three children, and a large number of animals.

Biography

To millions of fans, Diana Gabaldon is the creator of a complex, original, and utterly compelling amalgam of 18th-century romantic adventure and 20th-century science fiction. To the publishing industry, she's a grassroots-marketing phenomenon. And to would-be writers everywhere who worry that they don't have the time or expertise to do what they love, Gabaldon is nothing short of an inspiration.

Gabaldon wrote her first novel while juggling the demands of motherhood and career: in between her job as an ecology professor, she also had a part-time gig writing freelance software reviews. Gabaldon had never written fiction before, and didn't intend to publish this first novel, which she decided to call Outlander. This, she decided, would be her "practice novel". Worried that she might not be able to pull a plot and characters out of thin air, she settled on a historical novel because "it's easier to look things up than to make them up entirely."

The impulse to set her novel in 18th-century Scotland didn't stem -- as some fans have assumed—from a desire to explore her own familial roots (in fact, Gabaldon isn't even Scottish). Rather, it came from watching an episode of the British sci-fi series Dr. Who and becoming smitten with a handsome time traveler in a kilt. A time-travel element crept into Gabaldon's own book only after she realized her wisecracking female lead couldn't have come from anywhere but the 20th century. The resulting love affair between an intelligent, mature, sexually experienced woman and a charismatic, brave, virginal young man turned the conventions of historical romance upside-down.

Gabaldon has said her books were hard to market at first because they were impossible to categorize neatly. Were they historical romances? Sci-fi adventure stories? Literary fiction? Whatever their genre (Gabaldon eventually proffered the term "historical fantasias"), they eventually found their audience, and it turned out to be a staggeringly huge one.

Even before the publication of Outlander, Gabaldon had an online community of friends who'd read excerpts and were waiting eagerly for more. (In fact, her cohorts at the CompuServe Literary Forum helped hook her up with an agent.) Once the book was released, word kept spreading, both on the Internet and off, and Gabaldon kept writing sequels. (When her fourth book, "Drums of Autumn," was released, it debuted at No. 1 on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list, and her publisher, Delacorte, raced to add more copies to their initial print run of 155,000.)

With her books consistently topping the bestseller lists, it's apparent that Gabaldon's appeal lies partly in her ability to bulldoze the formulaic conventions of popular fiction. Salon writer Gavin McNett noted approvingly, "She simply doesn't pay attention to genre or precedent, and doesn't seem to care that identifying with Claire puts women in the role of the mysterious stranger, with Jamie -- no wimp in any regard -- as the romantic 'heroine."'

In between Outlander novels, Gabaldon also writes historical mysteries featuring Lord John Grey, a popular, if minor, character from the series, and is working on a contemporary mystery series. Meanwhile, the author's formidable fan base keeps growing, as evidenced by the expanding list of Gabaldon chat rooms, mailing lists, fan clubs and web sites -- some of them complete with fetching photos of red-haired lads in kilts.

Good To Know

Outlander may have been Gabaldon's first novel, but she was already a published writer. Her credits included scholarly articles, political speeches, radio ads, computer manuals and Walt Disney comic books.

Gabaldon gets 30 to 40 e-mails a day from her fans, who often meet online to discuss her work. "I got one letter from a woman who had been studying my book jacket photos (with a magnifying glass, evidently), who demanded to know why there was a hole in my pants," wrote Gabaldon on her web site. "This strikes me as a highly metaphysical question, which I am not equipped to answer, but which will doubtless entertain some chat-groups for quite a long time."

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    1. Also Known As:
      Diana Jean Gabaldon (full name)
    2. Hometown:
      Flagstaff, Arizona
    1. Date of Birth:
      Fri Jan 11 00:00:00 EST 1952
    2. Place of Birth:
      Flagstaff, Arizona
    1. Education:
      B.S., Northern Arizona University, 1973; M.S., Scripps Oceanographic Institute; Ph.D., Northern Arizona University, 1979
    2. Website:
      http://www.dianagabaldon.com/

Read an Excerpt

Jamie made a fire in a sheltered spot, and sat down next to it. The rain had eased to a faint drizzle that misted the air and spangled my eyelashes with rainbows when I looked at the flames.

He sat staring into the fire for a long time. Finally he looked up at me, hands clasped around his knees.

"I said before that I'd not ask ye things ye had no wish to tell me. And I'd not ask ye now; but I must know, for your safety as well as mine." He paused, hesitating.

"Claire, if you've never been honest wi' me, be so now, for I must know the truth. Claire, are ye a witch?"

I gaped at him. "A witch? You — you can really ask that?" I thought he must be joking. He wasn't.

He took me by the shoulders and gripped me hard, staring into my eyes as though willing me to answer him.

"I must ask it, Claire! And you must tell me!"

"And if I were?" I asked through dry lips. "If you had thought I were a witch? Would you still have fought for me?"

"I would have gone to the stake with you!" he said violently. "And to hell beyond, if I must. But may the Lord Jesus have mercy on my soul and on yours, tell me the truth!"

The strain of it all caught up with me. I tore myself out of his grasp and ran across the clearing. Not far, only to the edge of the trees; I could not bear the exposure of the open space. I clutched a tree; put my arms around it and dug my fingers hard into the bark, pressed my face to it and shrieked with hysterical laughter.

Jamie's face, white and shocked, loomed up on the other side of the tree. With the dim realization thatwhat I was doing must sound unnervingly like cackling, I made a terrific effort and stopped. Panting, I stared at him for a moment.

"Yes," I said, backing away, still heaving with gasps of unhinged laughter. "Yes, I am a witch! To you, I must be. I've never had smallpox, but I can walk through a room full of dying men and never catch it. I can nurse the sick and breathe their air and touch their bodies, and the sickness can't touch me. I can't catch cholera, either, or lockjaw, or the morbid sore throat. And you must think it's an enchantment, because you've never heard of vaccine, and there's no other way you can explain it."

"The things I know — " I stopped backing away and stood still, breathing heavily, trying to control myself. "I know about Jonathan Randall because I was told about him. I know when he was born and when he'll die, I know about what he's done and what he'll do, I know about Sandringham because ... because Frank told me. He knew about Randall because he ... he ... oh, God!" I felt as though I might be sick, and closed my eyes to shut out the spinning stars overhead.

"And Colum ... he thinks I'm a witch, because I know Hamish isn't his own son. I know ... he can't sire children. But he thought I knew who Hamish's father is ... I thought maybe it was you, but then I knew it couldn't be, and..." I was talking faster and faster, trying to keep the vertigo at bay with the sound of my own voice.

"Everything I've ever told you about myself was true," I said, nodding madly as though to reassure myself. "Everything. I haven't any people, I haven't any history, because I haven't happened yet.

"Do you know when I was born?" I asked, looking up. I knew my hair was wild and my eyes staring, and I didn't care. "On the twentieth of October, in the Year of Our Lord nineteen hundred and eighteen. Do you hear me?" I demanded, for he was blinking at me unmoving, as though paying no attention to a word I said. "I said nineteen eighteen! Nearly two hundred years from now! Do you hear?"

I was shouting now, and he nodded slowly.

"I hear," he said softly.

"Yes, you hear!" I blazed. "And you think I'm raving mad. Don't you? Admit it! That's what you think. You have to think so, there isn't any other way you can explain me to yourself. You can't believe me, you can't dare to. Oh, Jamie..." I felt my face start to crumple. All this time spent hiding the truth, realizing that I could never tell anyone, and now I realized that I could tell Jamie, my beloved husband, the man I trusted beyond all others, and he wouldn't — he couldn't believe me either.

"It was the rocks — the fairy hill. The standing stones. Merlin's stones. That's where I came through." I was gasping, half-sobbing, becoming less coherent by the second. "Once upon a time, but it's really two hundred years. It's always two hundred years, in the stories. ... But in the stories, the people always get back. I couldn't get back." I turned away, staggering, grasping for support. I sank down on a rock, shoulders slumped, and put my head in my hands. There was a long silence in the wood. It went on long enough for the small night birds to recover their courage and start their noises once again, calling to each other with a thin, high zeek! as they hawked for the last insects of the summer.

I looked up at last, thinking that perhaps he had simply risen and left me, overcome by my revelations. He was still there, though, still sitting, hands braced on his knees, head bowed as though in thought.

The hairs on his arms shone stiff as copper wires in the firelight, though, and I realized that they stood erect, like the bristles on a dog. He was afraid of me.

"Jamie," I said, feeling my heart break with absolute loneliness. "Oh, Jamie."

I sat down and curled myself into a ball, trying to roll myself around the core of my pain. Nothing mattered any longer, and I sobbed my heart out.

His hands on my shoulders raised me, enough to see his face. Through the haze of tears, I saw the look he wore in battle, of struggle that had passed the point of strain and become calm certainty.

"I believe you," he said firmly. "I dinna understand it a bit — not yet — but I believe you. Claire, I believe you! Listen to me! There's the truth between us, you and I, and whatever ye tell me, I shall believe it." He gave me a gentle shake.

"It doesna matter what it is. You've told me. That's enough for now. Be still, mo duinne. Lay your head and rest. You'll tell me the rest of it later. And I'll believe you."

I was still sobbing, unable to grasp what he was telling me. I struggled, trying to pull away, but he gathered me up and held me tightly against himself, pushing my head into the folds of his plaid, and repeating over and over again, "I believe you."

At last, from sheer exhaustion, I grew calm enough to look up and say, "But you can't believe me."

He smiled down at me. His mouth trembled slightly, but he smiled.

"Ye'll no tell me what I canna do, Sassenach." He paused a moment. ... A long time later, he spoke.

"All right. Tell me now."

I told him. Told him everything, haltingly but coherently. I felt numb from exhaustion, but content, like a rabbit that has outrun a fox, and found temporary shelter under a log. It isn't sanctuary, but at least it is respite. And I told him about Frank.

"Frank," he said softly. "Then he isna dead, after all."

"He isn't born." I felt another small wave of hysteria break against my ribs, but managed to keep myself under control. "Neither am I."

He stroked and patted me back into silence, making his small murmuring Gaelic sounds.

"When I took ye from Randall at Fort William," he said suddenly, "you were trying to get back. Back to the stones. And ... Frank. That's why ye left the grove."

"Yes."

"And I beat you for it." His voice was soft with regret.

"You couldn't know. I couldn't tell you." I was beginning to feel very drowsy indeed.

"No, I dinna suppose ye could." He pulled the plaid closer around me, tucking it gently around my shoulders. "Do ye sleep now, mo duinne. No one shall harm ye; I'm here."

I burrowed into the warm curve of his shoulder, letting my tired mind fall through the layers of oblivion. I forced myself to the surface long enough to ask, "Do you really believe me, Jamie?"

He sighed, and smiled ruefully down at me.

"Aye, I believe ye, Sassenach. But it would ha' been a good deal easier if you'd only been a witch."


From the Audio Cassette edition.

Copyright 2001 by Diana Gabaldon
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Table of Contents

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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 3568 )
Rating Distribution

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(2530)

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(508)

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(259)

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(129)

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 3608 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted Wed Oct 29 00:00:00 EDT 2008

    I Also Recommend:

    Soul of a Highlander (Daughters of the Glen Series #3)
    The Time Traveler's Wife
    Love Returns Through The Portal Of Time

    I want more!!!

    The Outlander series is really good and now I am hooked on them just like all my freinds. Well, before I read any book series I HAVE to get most of them before I start to read any of them and I hate to read novels out of sequence.<BR/>Outlander was a delight! My friends were RIGHT! It WAS good and I did like it! I too fell in love with Jamie. In fact I felt sorry for the bloke! What he went through!! I cried for him, hurt for him, was enraged with everything he went through, right along with the heroine. I wanted to pummel Captain Randell so many times, even wanted to smack Jamie a couple of times for being so stubborn!<BR/>Gabaldon not only brought the characters to life but the time period as well. I really felt I was in Jacobite Scotland. She is an extraordinary storyteller. The book was suspenseful and filled with intrique as well as with romance. I'd still like to know who hit Jamie on the back of the head. She never really explained that. Several characters where suspected, but none admitted to it.<BR/>While slow in places, especially when the heroine was talking about the historical aspects of the time period or something that had to do with healing, the book had a nice pace and did keep me interested until the end. In fact when I reached the end I wanted MORE! Thank goodness there IS a second book! I have begun Dragonfly in Amber and already it has me intrigued and in tears!

    69 out of 72 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Mon Nov 17 00:00:00 EST 2008

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    What Dreams May Come
    Charming the Highlander
    Beyond the Highland Mist (Highlander Series #1)

    In a word... "Stunning!"

    It took me about 200 pages before I became an addict,(and it was a rough 200 pages!) so don't let the beginning turn you off from this incredible series! There is a method to her madness, and once it catches, you will literally be lost in time!<BR/><BR/>I can't recall which book it was (2 or 3) that literally had me in tears by the end. This is the ONLY author ever talented enough to suck me into her world as thoroughally, and completely as this.

    48 out of 52 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Mon Feb 09 00:00:00 EST 2009

    more from this reviewer

    Soft porn

    I was disappointed. It was a subject I was interested in with likable characters but it was soft porn that got worse the deeper you got in to the book.

    47 out of 166 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Wed Aug 25 00:00:00 EDT 2010

    The "romance novel" for NON-romance readers

    This book is 736 pages (on my Nook) and I read it all in a day and a half - that's how magnetic it is. Be warned, you won't get anything else done while reading it. Now, I wouldn't go around calling it academic literature or anything, but as an escapist novel, it is divine. I hate romance fussy stuff, *never* read romance novels, and I adored this book. Yet it is about a love story, and it has plenty of 'adult fun time' described in it to support the romantic relationship the two main characters have to each other. So a romance novel it is I suppose. And yet one that is well written, tight, with great plot control and well developed characters; tense thrills and wonderfully researched history. It is one of the rare novels in which, after putting it aside for a few days, I still have to remind myself that the characters are not real and I am not, in fact, living in 18th century Scotland and my husband will laugh at me if I talk with a brogue. It's so incredibly engaging! I enjoyed every minute of this work. I highly recommend it.

    41 out of 45 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Sat May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010

    This is the best book ever!

    I am an avid reader. Outlander, the first book in Gabaldon's Outlander Series, is one of the best books I've ever read! Claire and her husband go to Scotland for a second honeymoon shortly after WWII. While on a walk, Claire touches a stone and is transported back to Scotland in the 1700's. She meets Jamie Frasier and their incredible love affair, adventure, epic saga beings. There is something for everyone in Gabaldon's Outlander series: history, adventure, romance, time travel, warfare, even a touch of veiled eroticism here and there. Do not be afraid of the size of Gabaldon's books - you will be sad when they end and look forward to the next one with much anticipation.

    30 out of 35 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Sat Jun 18 00:00:00 EDT 2011

    I feel depraved (and deprived)

    Diana Gabaldon leads off with an interesting premise and, next thing you know, you're into a pretty good time travel book. She has talent, no question, and her style is just fine for this type of book. Spoilers coming spoilers spoiler spoiler. Spoiler The problem is that she hobbles her talent with a plethora of unnecessary sex scenes. Some are longer, some are shorter; some are highly explicit, some are relatively tame; sometimes the characters are both willing, and sometimes the scenes are of rape... or the next thing to it -- or both. Now I love sex morning, noon and night if I can get it. And I never thought I'd say this in a million years, but -- there's too much sex in this book. Sometimes it seems our heroine (Claire) must be the only woman in Scotland because nearly every man she meets wants or tries to jump her bones. And I think it's great that she and her husband have lots of sex -- but I don't need to read about it every dozen pages or so. This is a long book and I think it has room for about 3 long wet wild sex scenes and a bunch of more circumspect mentions of the subject. Now some of the sex is integral to the plot, but some of it just sidetracks plot and character development and is plain annoying. There was so much sex in this book that it left me thinking I don't have nearly enough -- but if I tried to keep up with Jaimie and Claire, I'm sure it would shorten my life. I have the next book, "Dragonfly in Amber," but I won't be reading it anytime soon -- if ever. "Muff," I say. Er, I mean, "Nuff," I say.

    25 out of 46 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 2009

    I Also Recommend:

    When Christ and His Saints Slept (Eleanor of Aquitaine Series #1)
    Devil's Brood (Eleanor of Aquitaine Series #3)
    The Boleyn Inheritance
    Time and Chance (Eleanor of Aquitaine Series #2)
    I, Elizabeth: The Word of a Queen

    Read this book - Please!

    I have to admit - I DO NOT read romance novels - would never buy one. I like intense mysteries, historal fiction of England - and I found all of this in the Outlander only taking place in the Highlands. When I received this book as a gift for Christmas, I had no idea that I would get caught up in a "romance" novel. But its more than that, the history of the clans, the superstitions that the Highlanders believed - and just one turn after another in the storyline. I love the characters and the book is so well written - I couldn't put it down and ready for the 2nd in the series...how have I missed this author?

    23 out of 27 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Sat Mar 05 00:00:00 EST 2011

    The first book is a door to a world you will never forget-- worth reading.

    I haven't seen this edition in person yet, but I know I will purchase it. I have two other copies of Outlander that I have lent to many friends. I know that once they start reading the series they will continue. Our book club hasn't used any of Diana Gabaldon books for a selection, yet we have spent more time discussing the Outlander Series than any other book! No matter how determined we are to stay on topic, Fraser Ridge inevitably gets mentioned. Outlander is a fascinating world created by an author who uses her talent to make characters feel so real you want to invite them to dinner. I have yet to meet a man who can hold a candle to Jamie, and I want to be Claire when I grow up.

    16 out of 17 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Wed Oct 14 00:00:00 EDT 2009

    more from this reviewer

    THE BEST BOOK SERIES EVER EVER EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    This is my all time favorite book series I've ever had the pleasure of reading! if you like romantic settings, love, adventure--you will love these books. Read them all, you won't be disappointed! My most treasured books in my library. I own the paperbacks and am currently acquiring the hardcopies. I will pass these books down to my daughters someday.

    12 out of 13 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Sat Sep 04 00:00:00 EDT 2010

    Wow!

    I could not put this book down. The characters are so real, how could you not love Jamie! I was a little doubtful at first with the time travel idea, however, once you get into the story, it just draws you in and you forget everything else. Claire's sense of humor is enjoyable. Diana Gabaldon's style of writing keeps you wanting to know what happens next. There is one part of the story that is a bit hard to read, and I have to say it brought tears to my eyes, but just makes you love Jamie even more. I am currently reading the next book in the series, and this is just as enjoyable.

    11 out of 11 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Sat Nov 21 00:00:00 EST 2009

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    No Rest for the Wicked (Immortals after Dark Series #2)
    Lover Revealed (Black Dagger Brotherhood Series #4)
    Acheron (Dark-Hunter Series #11)
    Night Pleasures (Dark-Hunter Series #1)

    Loved it!

    I read this book about 10 years ago and just didn't care for it. I found it recently among my books and thought I would give it another shot and boy am I glad I did! The book is long and filled with so many details, but I think that is part of the charm of Gabaldon's writing. I found myself laughing, crying and cringing at so many parts. This is truly an original story and a great one at that. If you want a quick read, this book is not for you. I read it in 3 days, but there is so much to take it, I should have slowed down to really absorb it all. It's a well written story filled with everything you might want.

    10 out of 10 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Mon May 17 00:00:00 EDT 2010

    more from this reviewer

    Amazing read

    Diana Gabaldon has really shown her talent in this first book in her series. Wow. The characters are well developed and all very interesting. The plot is amazing, the time travel is exciting. The history is fictional but well researched at the same time. What more could you ask for. When Claire Randall accidently time travels into 17 century Scotland, shes in for the ride of a lifetime, to say the least. She meets horrible people like Jack Randall and amazing people like Jamie Fraser. At first Claire wants nothing but to time travel back to her time. But slowly she adapts to her new life, and falls in love with Jamie. Your in for a treat if you decide to read this. If you've already read it, I'm sure you will agree to say that this book may have kept you up late one or two nights. The romance, action, and adventure of this book is amazing.

    8 out of 9 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Sun Sep 27 00:00:00 EDT 2009

    Took me to another place

    Outlander is one of the best books I have ever read. And I mean it. It was suggested by a friend and I only read it because of her recommendation. I was not sure the story line sounded that interesting. It started slow but then it blossomed. The author puts you in the story. You connect with the charaters. I fell in love, I mourned, and I was captured. I highly recommend this book. It is one of my favorites.

    8 out of 9 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Fri Oct 17 00:00:00 EDT 2008

    I Also Recommend:

    Dark Curse (Dark Series #19)
    Love Returns Through The Portal Of Time
    Faefever (Fever Series #3)

    A BEAUTIFUL READ!!!

    Outlander is a title that I've had several friends tell me I need to read, but I just put it in the back of my mind as a dated historical romance until this tag. I wish that I had read this book when it first came out. Because then the novelty of time travel would have been fresh, and I wouldn't have felt the weight of every other romance I've read over the years with that theme that have cribbed from Outlander. Claire is a wonderful, absolutely non-stereotypical, character. Her dilemma of loving and marrying two men in two different times makes her fascinating as well. There was only one time I wanted to smack her: In Wentworth Prison, instead of watching Jamie and the brute fighting each other, she should have had the forthwith to smack Randall and take care of him before he woke up!! That made me want to tear my hair out a bit. The middle did drag a bit, and for awhile it felt like the book would never end. I enjoyed it, but it was loooong! I have already added Dragonfly in Amber, the sequel, to my wish list. It's got romantic sex without being pornographic. Lots of amazing historical detail. Jamie is awesome! How cool is it that for once the MAN is the virgin! Gabaldon turns so many romance stereotypes on their head. I highly recommend this beautiful read.

    8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Thu Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2010

    more from this reviewer

    Wealth of Historical Detail Kept Me Reading

    Like Jude Deveraux's &lt;i&gt;A Knight in Shining Armor&lt;/i&gt;, one of those "modern heroine travels to centuries past" stories; in this case, 18th Century Scotland. Gabaldon can found in general fiction often these days and the novel was noteworthy when published for breaking a lot of romance genre rules (while keeping to some romance cliches like marriage of convenience.) Unusual in this genre for being told in first person. Definitely in style and attention to historical detail a cut above the usual in the romance aisle, and this is one I finished and actually kept on my bookshelf. On the other hand, you need a strong stomach with this novel, which featured heterosexual and homosexual rape, domestic violence and sadistic torture. After all the characters go through, when I discovered that in the next novel Gabaldon in a sense hit the reset button, I dropped the sequel and series. But I do remember this first novel as an engaging adventure tale and romance.

    7 out of 12 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Sat Feb 18 00:00:00 EST 2012

    I Also Recommend:

    A Knight in Shining Armor
    Whitney, My Love

    Not recommended for romance readers

    Someone compared this to Jude Deveroux's "A Knight in Shining Armor," but there was absolutely no resemblance to my favorite romance novel. The story is classified as a romance, but there is nothing really romantic about it. I read nearly 350 pages and then decided to quit. I love books that give me some sort of an emotional impact. The story did not make me cry, laugh, or get angry with a character.The story just dragged on and on. Also, I don't know why a reviewer wrote that this author has vulgar language and sex scenes because she was very modest in my opinion, but this comes from an avid romance reader. If you love Jude Deveroux, Judith McNaught, Monica McCarty, PC Cast, and Charlene Cross...then prepared to be disappointed with this author's writing style.

    5 out of 12 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Sun Jan 22 00:00:00 EST 2012

    wow

    I got this book for free, and totally avoided it for so long. It just didnt seem like a story I was going to be into. Im also not one to care much for sex scenes. For the first time I read a story that had the scenes make sense to me. I mean, as I kept reading( because i was hooked) I realized by the end of the last page how they fit into the story. She didnt just build the characters of the people, but the relationship as well. The love and all it was for them had a personality alomost. I wasnt sure what drove me through this book, but at the end I bought ALL the remaining books that followed and read them in 3 months. The story gets even better. I even started to look at myself, my marraige and all that makes me, me. Maybe I am to sentimental and some wont see this book as I saw it. If you liked it I say get the others to go with it. Follow this couple..its wonderful.

    5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Fri Oct 21 00:00:00 EDT 2011

    more from this reviewer

    Not at all impressed.

    I'm an avid reader of historical fiction and I have to say that this book just left me exhausted and deflated. There were too many details about things that were of no importance to the plot. This book could easily have been a 300 page book but instead just dragged out to the point where I had to put it down and walk away. The main character was really hard to relate to due to some of the ridiculous circumstances portrayed and her reactions to them. I'm not a big fan of romance cliches either, and unfortunately this one was full of them. I'd definitely take a pass on this book and the following 2 books of this series.

    5 out of 16 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Thu Oct 20 00:00:00 EDT 2011

    Entirely too much detail.

    I had high hopes for this book after reading all the good reviews. However, once I started reading i thought, ok this is going to start picking up any time now and so I kept reading and it really never gained momentum. I don't feel that the characters were really developed enough for me to really care about them or what happened to them. There were a couple parts brief exciting parts that were good but they were few and far between. The rest of it was drawn out details on things of non-importance. It was a struggle to get through the entire book and it wasn't worth the time. I thought it might get better towards the end but it didn't, in fact it took a really weird twist that i didn't care for. I would highly recommend Karen Marie Moning's Highlander Series and even more so her Fever series which is magnificent. Sorry to be a downer but this book was torture to get through.

    5 out of 16 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Sat May 14 00:00:00 EDT 2011

    You have to get this book!

    This is the 20th Anniversary Edition of the first book in the outlander series. This is one of my all time favorite books, Diana Gabaldon has created such a wonderful story that has been enjoyed by so many people. If you havent read it you are really missing out on a great book. Check out some of the outlander book clubs and Diana's websight for more info. Once you start reading this you will be hooked on Jamie and Claire forever. To answer some questions, this book is a all in one story that is hard to put in a single catagory,If I had to sum it up with a few words I would say, historical fiction,romance, war,the 1700's,scottish highlands, and time travel. I would highly recommend reading everything this Author has written (I Have )and I belong to some outlander book clubs that talk about each book, so yes I think it is a perfect book for club discussions.

    5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

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