Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Outlander Novel ☑️ Recommended

Outlander Series Book 1

Outlander Summary

The first book in Diana Gabaldon’s acclaimed Outlander saga, the basis for the Outlander television series.

Unrivaled storytelling. Unforgettable characters. Rich historical detail. These are the hallmarks of Diana Gabaldon’s work. Her New York Times bestselling Outlander novels have earned the praise of critics and captured millions of fans. Here is the story that started it all, introducing two remarkable characters, Claire Randall and Jamie Fraser, in a spellbinding novel of passion and history that combines exhilarating adventure with a love story for the ages.

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.

Diana Gabaldon’s acclaimed Outlander series blends rich historical fiction with riveting adventure and a truly epic love story. 

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The first book in Diana Gabaldon’s acclaimed Outlander saga, the basis for the Starz original series.

One of the top ten best-loved novels in America, as seen on PBS’s The Great American Read!

ISBN-10‎ 0385319959

ISBN-13‎ 978-0385319959

Publisher: Dell / Delacorte Press

Outlander Release Date: 1991 / 1992

850 pages

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Outlander (published in the UK as Cross Stitch) is the first novel in a series of seven by Diana Gabaldon. The book focuses on two main characters, Claire Randall (née Beauchamp) and James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser, and takes place in 18th- and 20th-century Scotland. It was awarded the RITA Award for "Best romance novel" of 1992.

Plot

During World War II, Claire Randall, a British Army nurse, and her husband Frank, an Oxford University History professor, work for MI6. In 1946, after the war ends, they visit Inverness, Scotland, the site of their honeymoon before the war. They combine their second honeymoon with research into his family history, investigating an ancestor named "Black Jack" Randall, a Captain in the British Army, in the first half of the 18th century.

During their holiday, her husband meets with another historian while she and an amateur botanist go plant-gathering near a group of standing stones on the hill of Craigh na Dun. Claire tells Frank of her visit to Craigh na Dun and, Frank's interest piqued by the historical and supposedly mystical powers of the stones, the two decide to visit the site again after seeing Loch Ness. When Frank learns that a group of local women, including the local vicar's housekeeper, will enact a pagan ritual there, he is all the more eager to go. Claire, a budding botanist, is particularly captivated by the flowers and herbs she finds, although the unusual ritual is also of interest to her. After getting up early, hiking to the stones, and watching the ritual concealed behind some bushes, Frank and Claire return to their hotel.

Claire returns the next day, intending to collect a plant specimen that she had seen the day before, but becomes disoriented and faints when investigating a buzzing noise near the stones. Waking to the sound of battle in the distance, Claire assumes it is a re-enactment or a movie set, taking a detour through woods that, though familiar, have changed somewhat from how she remembered them.

Struggling to make sense of her surroundings, she runs into a man claiming to be Captain "Black Jack" Randall, the very ancestor with whom Frank was so fascinated, who looks almost exactly like Claire's husband. Detaining her, he asks her why she is traveling alone in a "state of undress" and, receiving no answer from a vastly confused Claire, and concludes that she is either a prostitute or a spy. Retrieving her wits, Claire claims to be robbed Englishwoman lost in the countryside. She is saved from capture by a skeptical Randall by an unknown Scotsman who, knocks Captain Randall unconscious and takes her with him to he rejoins his party, a group to Scotsmen who are on the run from the red-coats after rustling cattle. Still confused, she doesn't understand the situation, her "re-enactment" theory dissipating, and is further puzzled by their reactions to her dress, which everyone calls a "shift" because her legs are bare.

Upon seeing that his companions were about to force the dislocated shoulder of one of the men back into place, an action that could have crippled him, Claire mends his dislocation using her nursing experience and 20th century medical knowledge. Claire meets several members of the Clan MacKenzie, and decides that their "costumes" and weapons are just too realistic. Concluding they cannot let her go for fear that she is an English spy, they force her to travel on horseback with them through the Scottish countryside. During a long ride, Claire shares a horse with the same young man whose arm she healed, Jamie. While the they ride, not seeing the lights of Inverness where she knows they must be and noting all the previous strange events, Claire reluctantly concludes that she may have traveled to the past.

The party of Scots return to their home, Castle Leoch, seat of the Clan MacKenzie. She is met with cordial wariness and, after being greeted and fed by the friendly cook, given a room for the night. There, caught by a fit of despair and exhaustion while tending his injuries, Claire collapses and sobs in Jamie's arms.

The next day, when questioned by the laird, crippled but cunning Colum mac Campbell MacKenzie, Claire claims she was sailing to France to visit relatives and lost her gown, luggage, and servant when they were attacked, an elaborated version of the same story she had told Captain Randall. The Scots are suspicious, believing her story to be a lie because of her lack of connections and evidence. Unable to prove her guilt but still wary of her true intentions, Colum treats her as a guest but forbids her from leaving Castle Leoch. Before she leaves his office, her fears of having traveled through time are proven when she sees a letter on Colum's desk dated 1743.

All the while, Claire desperately searches for a way to return to the Craigh na Dun, believing that if she returns to the standing stones she can also return to her own time and her husband, Frank. In Castle Leoch, The Scots see Claire as a "Sassenach", an Outlander, an outsider ignorant of Scottish Highland culture and one of the generally hated English as well. She does, however, earn their respect with her work as a healer, though some in the castle and neighboring village think her a witch. Wanting to learn the truth of her background, Dougal MacKenzie, brother of the laird and part of the party that found Claire, takes both her and Jamie on the yearly rent collection through the MacKenzie lands. This is a task Dougal performs as Colum's medical condition renders him unable to ride a horse or travel long distances unaided.

While on the tax collection trip, Claire realizes that Dougal is a Jacobite, a fact of which his brother Colum is not aware, and is using Jamie, who had been violently whipped by the English and bears the scars to prove it, to be a visual argument against English aggression and oppression. Along with the regular taxes, Dougal also collects donations towards the Jacobite cause. This is all overseen by the elderly but surprisingly lucid Ned Gowan, an English lawyer who is sympathetic to the Scottish cause. Also during the trip, Claire and Jamie begin to develop a tentative friendship.

Captain Jack Randall, learning that Claire is travelling with the MacKenzies and still unsure of her true nature, orders the clansmen to bring her to him. It is revealed that Randall is the one who had ordered Jamie to be whipped half to death and has a reputation for rather brutal questioning. After Claire arrives and tells him the same story as before, Randall ties her to a chair and attempts to beat the truth from her. Dougal, infuriated by Randall's methods, refuses to allow Randall to detain Claire for further questioning. He is informed by Ned Gowan that the only way to make Claire safe from Randall's power is to make her a legal Scotswoman by a witnessed and consummated marriage. Dougal tells her to wed Jamie, much to Claire's flustered anger. She argues heatedly with Dougal, insisting that she will not do it. Claire does, however, digress that she is not technically married, unable to tell him that she, impossibly, has a husband more than 200 years in the future. After much argument, she agrees to marry Jamie, resigned that it is the best route to safety and thinking him the most suitable candidate.

Claire then attempts to convince Jamie out of the marriage though he is surprisingly unfazed by the whole arrangement. She famously asks him whether it bothers him that she is not a virgin, to which he replies "'Well no... so long as it doesna bother you that I am'" and that "'One of [them] should know what they're doing.'"

Much to her surprise, Jamie makes an effort to make her wedding day as pleasant as possible, procuring a gown for her to wear and dressing in full clan tartan for the occasion. He even insists on being married by a priest in a chapel, though it is, much to Claire's horror, the same one in which she and Frank had/will have been married in. Claire, though terrified, is touched at his kindness and the two marry. Later that night, the two overcome their mutual nerves and consummate their marriage, a process Claire finds more pleasant than she had expected.

Claire and Jamie grow closer through the course of their travels with Dougal and the other MacKenzies. Claire, torn between her newfound attraction and attachment to Jamie and the thought of Frank back in her own time, escapes from the Scottish party and attempts make her own way back to Craigh na Dun. Nearly drowning when she falls into a stream, she is rescued by an English patrol only to brought back to the fort where Jack Randall is residing. Claire is saved from rape at the hands of Randall by Jamie, who sneaks into the English fortress to save her. The two return to the party of Scotsmen who, all furious at her actions, refuse to have any contact with her.

Claire's healing skills as a 20th century nurse save Jamie repeatedly but as the story progresses, she is determined to return to the stone circle and Frank, knowing he must be worried sick. As life continues at Castle Leoch, Claire's marriage to Jamie, ignorance of local superstition, and jealousy towards her lead to a charge of witchcraft. Thrown into a hole with another accused witch, Geilie Duncan, to await trial, she is rescued by Jamie. Just before her escape, she realizes that Geilie Duncan is from the future too. When Jamie asks her to explain, she initially tells him she can't as he won't believe her, saying it's easier to call her a witch.

Shocked by Claire's explanation, he takes her to the stone circle and tells her to return to Frank - seeing for himself, that Claire is telling the truth about the stones. Jamie leaves her there to decide if she wants to return to Frank or stay with him. He is over the moon with her decision to stay and he takes her to his home, Lallybroch, but their happiness doesn't last.

Jamie has a price on his head and is betrayed by Ronald McNab, one of his tenants. Angry that Jamie, after being told by Claire and Grannie McNab of Ronald's abuse of the child, insists Rabbie become a stable-boy at Lallybroch. Jamie is held at Wentworth Prison and sentenced to hang. Sadistic Jack Randall is also at Wentworth and takes the opportunity to torture Jamie. Jamie, however, promises Jack that he won't resist Jack's rape, abuse, and sexual torture if he lets Claire go. Jack agrees and in revenge, Claire tells Jack she is a witch, cursing him with the "gift" of knowledge that he will marry and have a son but will die before the child's born, giving him the date of his death.

Aided by Sir Marcus MacRannoch, a former suitor of Jamie's mother, Ellen MacKenzie Fraser, Claire, Jamie's relatives and men employed by Sir Marcus, rescue Jamie. She patches him up and they escape to Ste. Anne de Beaupre's monastery in France, where Jamie's uncle is stationed as Abbot. At Ste. Anne's, Claire tries healing Jamie, but discovers broken bones are simple, compared to repairing the damage done to his mind. As he recovers, Jamie tells Claire that his life is hers, that she should decide, will they go "to France, Italy, or even back to Scotland?" for "[they'll] need a place to go, soon."

Whilst at the abbey, Claire learns more about her faith - she was christened Catholic but not raised as one - and receives absolution from a friendly monk. He describes her as a shipwrecked traveller, forced to survive in a strange land as best she can. He describes her marriages as something she should leave in God's hands as nothing can be done about them. At the last, as she and Jaime emerge from the healing waters of a sacred hot spring under the Abbey, Claire reveals that she is pregnant with their first child.

Genres

The novel is not easily classified by genre. On one level, the work is a romance novel with a focus on the romantic relationship between the two main characters. The book could be described as a work of historical fiction with a detailed account of 18th century Scottish clan life. The novel could also be considered science fiction with a plot propelled by time travel as Claire journeys from 1945 to the 18th century.

Outlander Characters

Main characters

Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp Randall Fraser – A warm, practical and independent nurse in World War II finds herself in the Scottish Highlands in the mid-18th century. In the 20th century she is married to Frank Randall, but in the 18th century she marries Jamie Fraser. Claire is a gifted natural physician and an amateur botanist.

James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser (Jamie McTavish) – Claire's husband in the 18th century is a strapping young Scottish redhead with a complicated past and a disarming sense of humor. Jamie is intelligent, principled and, by 18th century standards, educated and worldly.

Frank Randall – Claire's husband in the 20th century is a history professor with a deep interest in his genealogy and heritage. He worked for MI-6 during World War II.

Jonathan Randall (Black Jack) – The primary villain of the story is Frank's ancestor, a British army officer. According to Jamie Fraser the “black” refers to the colour of his soul.

Colum MacKenzie – The Laird of the MacKenzie clan, Jamie's maternal uncle, shelters Jamie and Claire from the English. He suffers from Toulouse-Lautrec Syndrome.

Dougal MacKenzie – Colum's younger Jacobite brother leads the clan into battle since his older brother is physically disabled. He is the biological father of Colum's son, Hamish, and takes Jamie as a foster son for a year as a teen. He has four daughters and a son with Geillis Duncan.

Geillis/Geilie Duncan – The wife of the procurator fiscal is a time-traveler from the 1960s. She believes that she is a witch and has knowledge of herbs and plants. She is pregnant with Dougal MacKenzie’s child when she is imprisoned as a witch. Her pregnancy wins her a brief reprieve on her death sentence. She murders her husband, Arthur Duncan.

Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser – Jamie's godfather is taciturn, but very loyal to Jamie and Claire.

Laoghaire MacKenzie – A young girl of 16 is attracted to Jamie. She sends Claire to Geillis Duncan just prior to the witch trial.

Other characters by time

Inverness 1945

Mrs. Baird – The nosy proprietor of an Inverness bed and breakfast host Claire and Frank on their second honeymoon following WWII.

Rev. Dr. Reginald Wakefield – The vicar of the parish, an amateur historian and genealogist, and Frank’s adviser adopts Roger.

Roger MacKenzie Wakefield – The adopted son of Rev. Wakefield is approximately 5 years old.

Quentin Lambert Beauchamp (deceased) – Claire's "Uncle Lamb" is an archeologist who raises Claire in various locations around the world.

Mr. Crook – An elderly man shows Claire the stone circle of Craigh Na Dun.

A Ghost – A highlander ghost, presumably Jamie, encounters Frank days before Claire goes through the stones.

Mrs. Graham – Reverend Wakefield's druid housekeeper predicts Claire's "love of two men".

Scotland 1743

Prince Charles Edward (Bonnie Prince Charlie) – The Stuart Pretender is first mentioned when we learn Dougal is a Jacobite.

King James – With his court in Rome the exiled Scottish monarch chooses Charles to be his heir.

King George II – The English monarch is from the House of Hanover.

Rupert MacKenzie – A loyal member of Clan MacKenzie is Jamie's second cousin. Claire has to choose between marrying Rupert and Jamie.

Castle Leoch

Letitia MacKenzie – The wife of Colum is the mother of Hamish.

Alec McMahon MacKenzie (Auld Alec) – The Master of Horse of Castle Leoch wears a patch over his missing eye.

Angus Mhor – When Jamie takes Laoghaire’s punishment, Mhor beats him. He assuages Colum’s pain.

Davie Beaton (deceased) – The Healer of Leoch, member of Clan Beaton, is not a particularly good one. Claire takes over his surgery.

Brian Fraser (Black Brian) (deceased) – The father of Jamie, Jenny, and Willie is the bastard son of Lord Lovat and a serving girl.

Hamish MacKenzie – The son and heir of Colum is the child of Dougal, the son of Letitia MacKenzie.

Gwyllyn – A Welshman is bard of Castle Leoch.

Arthur Duncan – The procurator fiscal of the village of Cranesmuir is the husband of Geillis.

Father Bain – A Cranesmuir priest accuses Claire of witchcraft.

The tanner's lad – A boy whose ear is nailed to the pillory as a punishment.

Ned Gowan – A lawyer from Edinburgh works for Colum and is Claire's lawyer at her witchcraft trial.

Encountered on the road

Horrocks – An English deserter knows that Jamie did not shoot the Sergeant-Major.

Hugh Munro – A licensed beggar is an able messenger and Jamie's friend.

Malcolm Grant – With his two sons he conducts a raid on the MacKenzies.

Peter – A drover sees Claire with a Waterhorse and testifies against her at her witch trial. Waterhorse – The Loch Ness monster has an attraction for Claire.

Harry – A redcoat deserter threatens Claire and Jamie while they make love in a deserted glade. He tries to rape Claire, but she kills him.

Alexander William Roderick MacGregor (deceased) – A prisoner hangs himself at Fort William after being raped by Randall. Jamie has a Bible belonging to him, and he feels he owes Alexander a debt.

Return to Castle Leoch and Cranesmuir

Malcolm Grant – Grant wants an arranged marriage with Ellen MacKenzie. He is no longer a MacKenzie ally.

The Duke of Sandringham -- "Old Willie the arse bandit" has a secret connection to Jack Randall. He may be a secret Jacobite.

Janet Robinson – Robinson had an abortion by using a potion Geillis concocted. She testifies against Geillis.

Lallybroch

Jock Graham – The first person to welcome Claire and Jamie back to Lallybroch from Murch Nardagh.

Janet Fraser Murray (Jenny) – Jamie's older sisteris married to Ian Murray.

Ian Murray – Jenny's husband and Jamie's childhood friend lost his leg below the knee from an infection of a wound received during a battle at Daumier with Fergus nic Leodhas.

Young Jamie – Ian's oldest son is named for his uncle and is born in August 1741.

Mrs. Crook – Crook is a housekeeper at Lallybroch.

Willie Fraser (deceased) – Jamie's older brother dies from smallpox at age eleven.

Grannie MacNab – The mother of four sons and sixteen grandchildren aids Claire and Jamie when Redcoats stop at Lallybroch.

Rabbie MacNab – Grannie MacNab’s grandson is beaten by his father.

Ronald MacNab – Rabbie’s father is often drunk and beats his son. He is reluctant to give him over to Jamie as a stable lad. He later betrays Jamie to the Watch and is killed by the other tenants of Lallybroch.

Mrs. Martins – A midwife helps deliver Jenny's baby.

Margaret Ellen Murray – Maggie is born November 1743 to Jenny and Ian

The Search for Jamie

Robert MacDonald – A member of the Watch is attacked by Jenny and Claire. He is then used to get information about Jamie after he is taken by the Watch.

Sir Fletcher Gordon – The civilian governor is in charge of Wentworth Prison.

Marley – A big, disgusting, slow-witted orderly at Wentworth that Randall has with him when he confronts Claire in the cell where Jamie is being held.

Hector – Hector finds Claire in Eldridge Wood near Wentworth after a wolf attack and takes her to MacRannoch.

Sir Marcus MacRannoch – Once an admirer of Ellen Mackenzie gives refuge to Clair and Jamie in his cottage, Eldridge Manor. His cattle are used to help break Jamie out of Wentworth.

Lady Annabelle MacRannoch – The wife of Marcus helps Claire tend Jamie's wounds.

A soldier near Wentworth – Claire kills the soldier in order to ensure their escape.

The Abbey of Ste. Anne de Beaupre

Abbot Alexander Fraser – Jamie's uncle is one of his six Fraser uncles.

Brother Ambrose – The monk tends Jamie's wounds.

Brother Bartolome – A monk observes the Perpetual Adoration.

Francois Anselm Mericoeur d'Armagnac – A Franciscan monk befriends Claire and introduces her to the Perpetual Adoration. She tells him her true story.

Additional information and source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outlander_(novel)

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