Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

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.

Diana Gabaldon is the author of the award-winning, #1 NYT-bestselling OUTLANDER novels, described by Salon magazine as “the smartest historical sci-fi adventure-romance story ever written by a science Ph.D. with a background in scripting “Scrooge McDuck” comics.”
The adventure began in 1991 with the classic OUTLANDER (“historical fiction with a Moebius twist”), has continued through six more New York Times-bestselling novels–DRAGONFLY IN AMBER, VOYAGER, DRUMS OF AUTUMN, THE FIERY CROSS, A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES, and AN ECHO IN THE BONE, with nineteen million copies in print worldwide
The series is published in 26 countries and 23 languages, and includes a nonfiction (well, relatively) companion volume, THE OUTLANDISH COMPANION, which provides details on the settings, background, characters, research, and writing of the novels. Gabaldon (it’s pronounced “GAA-bull-dohn”—rhymes with “stone”) has also written several books in a sub-series featuring Lord John Grey (a major minor character from the main series): LORD JOHN AND THE PRIVATE MATTER, LORD JOHN AND THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE BLADE, and LORD JOHN AND THE HAND OF DEVILS. Another Lord John book, LORD JOHN AND THE SCOTTISH PRISONER, will probably be published in 2011).
Returning to her comic-book roots, she has also written a graphic novel titled THE EXILE (set within the OUTLANDER universe and featuring the main characters from OUTLANDER), but told from the viewpoint of Jamie Fraser and his godfather, Murtagh. The graphic novel is illustrated by Hoang Nguyen, published by Del-Rey.
Gabaldon is presently working on the third Lord John novel (LORD JOHN AND THE SCOTTISH PRISONER), and the eighth book in the OUTLANDER series. In addition, she is working on a contemporary mystery series, set in Phoenix, and has written Highly Scholarly Introductions (with masses of footnotes) to recent Modern Library editions of Sir Walter Scott’s IVANHOE and Thomas Paine’s COMMON SENSE.
Dr. Gabaldon holds three degrees in science: Zoology, Marine Biology, and Quantitative Behavioral Ecology, (plus an honorary degree as Doctor of Humane Letters, which entitles her to be “Diana Gabaldon, Ph.D., D.H.L.” She supposes this is better than “Diana Gabaldon, Phd.X,”) and spent a dozen years as a university professor with an expertise in scientific computation before beginning to write fiction. She has written scientific articles and textbooks, worked as a contributing editor on the MacMillan ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COMPUTERS, founded the scientific-computation journal SCIENCE SOFTWARE QUARTERLY, and has written numerous comic-book scripts for Walt Disney. None of this has anything whatever to do with her novels, but there it is.
She and her husband, Douglas Watkins, have three adult children and live mostly in Scottsdale, Arizona.
You can visit Diana online at www.DianaGabaldon.com


Okay... raise your hand if you haven't read Outlander. I know there are readers out there who haven't (yet)and I hope, if that's you, you'll run right out and pick up a copy!

Why must you do that?!? Because Outlander is SO good! It was my first "foray" in to time travel romances. And, with very few exceptions, it's the only series that I will re-read.

The first time I read Outlander was when it was originally published. I was working at B Dalton Bookseller. I had just started reading romances and was a little daunted by its size and time travel theme. Well, all my misgivings were left in the dust as I read. And read, I did! You have to remember this was 1991... it was the 800+ page hardback edition and ereaders were still decades away. Even so, I took the book everywhere so that I could read a few pages here and there. The storyline sucked me in and I finished it so fast.

I could not wait to read more about Claire and Jamie. Especially Jamie... wow! There haven't been too many fictional characters who I've "crushed on" as M would say. But, (again) wow! Jamie has it all! He's the man who men want to be like and who women want to be with! And (once again!)... wow! The scenes where Claire "is with" Jamie... hot, hot, hot! At the time when we were reading Outlander, I worked with a woman whose married name was Frazier. Her husband's name was James! It didn't take us long to realize that she was married to Jamie Frazier!!! Okay, so the spelling was a little different (in Outlander, he is Jamie Fraser) but, yeah... how cool is that?!?

Later, we received an ARC of Dragonfly in Amber, I think. Within the letter from the publisher was Diana Gabaldon's address. So, being the geeky book fan I was (honestly, still am...lol), I wrote her a fan letter! Imagine my surprise when she wrote back! We actually corresponded for a while and she even sent autographed pages of the book she was currently working on! I still have them, too... tucked inside my original Outlander hardback.

Outlander is just the first novel in an amazing series. If you have yet to read it, you will be treated to an epic story that has all the classic elements. It's a time travel story. It's a story of rebellion and war. It's an adventure story. It's a story of good vs. evil. But, most importantly, it's a love story. Not just between Claire and Jamie but a love story of family, clans and fighting for what's right and just.

Like I said, if you haven't read it...READ IT SOON! And, if you have read it... READ IT AGAIN! I know you'll love rediscovering all that is Outlander by Diana Gabaldon!!

Oh yeah...you can put your hands down now :D!

~~Thanks to Cheryl at Pump Up Your Book, Delacorte/Random House and Diana Gabaldon for providing a copy of Outlander in exchange for an honest and thoughtful review~~