OUTLANDER

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS:
By Diana Gabaldon, 1991, Time-Travel Romance From the Outlander series, comprised of: Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, and The Fiery Cross Connected to Lord John and the Private Matter Sensuality: Warm

SOMETHING RELATED TO THE BOOK/KIND OF THE BOOK:

Calling Outlander a time travel romance is like calling a Dove Bar ice cream on a stick. Mere labels can't possibly prepare you for the totally engrossing and sensual experience of either one. If you are ready for 850 pages packed with action, sex, life and death, then take the plunge. But then be prepared to read the sequels; there are three currently but at least two more are reportedly in the works. The main characters of the novel are Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser: who was a nurse in WWII James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser ( Jamie ): Claire's husband in the 18th century Frank Randall: Claire's husband in the 20th Century, Jonathan Randall: The primary villain of the story. He is Frank's ancestor and a British army officer Colum MacKenzie: The Laird of the MacKenzie clan Dougal MacKenzie: Colum's brother, who serves as the literal and figurative "body" of the pair Geillis/Geilie Duncan: Wife of the procurator fiscal; a time-traveler from the 1960s; who believes that she is a witch, and acts like one; has knowledge of herbs and plants Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser: Loyal member of Clan MacKenzie/Fraser; sworn to protect Jamie since he was a baby

GENRE
The novel looses genre, but the romance and love carried out in the novel doesnot make one realizing this flaw. Literature, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical NON-fiction (they are very accurate), Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Military History, Gay and Lesbian Fiction, and Horror, etc. All these are the major genres out of whom one can be carried out in a novel, but this novel majorly contains romance and historical fiction within itself which has not been highlighted.

CONTENTS OF THE BOOK

The contents of the book outlander carry:

Inverness 1945 Scotland 1743 Castle Leoch Encountered on the road Return to Castle Leoch and Cranesmuir Lallybroch The Search for Jamie The Abbey of Ste. Anne de Beaupre

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND/DETAIL OF THE AUTHOR

Outlander, published in 1991, is the 1st book in the series. (Published as Cross Stitch in the UK.) This book introduces the main characters of Claire Beauchamp Fraser and Jaime Fraser, and is set in 18th century and 20th century Scotland. Personal Legal name: Diana Gabaldon Birthdate: January 11, 1952 (age 59) Birthplace: Flagstaff,Arizona,United States Nationality: American Gender: Female Official Website: http://www.dianagabaldon.com/ Genres: Fiction, Time Travel, Speculative Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Adventure

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."

Unbound: This content section has been deprecated. Please help us clean up the page by moving the content from this section into other relevant sections. Once it has been emptied this section will no longer appear on the page but the edit history will still be available in the page's history. Diana Jean Gabaldon born on January 11, 1952 in Arizona, (U.S.A.). Her father was from New Mexico and her mother's family from Yorkshire (England); her great-grandfather immigrated to Arizona from England in the 1860s. Gabaldon grew up in Flagstaff, Arizona. She has received three degrees from two different institutions: B.S. in Zoology from Northern Arizona University, 19701973; M.S. in Marine Biology from the University of California, San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 1973-1975. Her research topic was, "Agonistic Interactions of Hermit Crabs." and Ph.D in Ecology from Northern Arizona University, 1975-1978. Dissertation: "Nest Site Selection in Pinyon Jays, Gymnorhynchus cyanocephalus)." She has also received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Northern Arizona University, in 2007. In addition, Gabaldon Hall, a dormitory on the campus of Northern Arizona University, is named after her father, Tony Gabaldon. Gabaldon currently lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with her husband, Doug Watkins; they have three adult children. Gabaldon's first fiction efforts were posted on the CompuServe literary forum, a hangout for people who like books (the forum is still extant, but now called The Compuserve Books and Writers Community www.community.compuserve.com/Books. She was an active member of this book-discussion community, and posted parts of her unfinished novel, Outlander, to strengthen her points in an argument with another poster regarding what it feels like to be pregnant. One of the people who read her post was a science fiction writer. He was impressed, and introduced her to his agent.<1> The agent, Perry Knowlton, took her on, on the basis of an unfinished first novel. When it was finished, he sent it to five editors, and within four days, three of them had made offers on it. There are presently seven novels in the main OUTLANDER series, including AN ECHO IN THE BONE, released on Sept. 22, 2009. The stories center around a time-travelling 20th-century English nurse

(Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser) and her 18th-century Scottish husband (James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser), and are located in Scotland, France, the West Indies, England, and America. The Lord John Series is a spinoff from the Outlander books, as it centers on a secondary character from the original series, but is also part of the main series. Note: Diana did not take her husband's name after they married, "My husband was mildly put out that I refused to take his name when we got married. I told him, though, that I'd been spelling "Gabaldon" for people for twenty-five years, and I was attached to it." Awards: * July, 1992 Diana Gabaldon received the RITA Award given by the Romance Writers of America in the category Best Book of 1991 for the novel Outlander.<2> * September 24, 2006 Diana Gabaldon received the International Corine Book Award 2006 in the category Weltbild Readers Award, which was determined by a public vote on the web page of the German publisher. * October 10, 2006 Diana Gabaldon received the Quill Book Award in 2006 in the category Science Fiction / Fantasy / Horror, which was determined by a public vote on the Internet. In order to receive the nomination the author was required to meet one of several possible criteria, such as an appearance on the best seller list of Borders Group Inc., or a starred review in Publishers Weekly

REASONED EVALUATION
Claire Randall is celebrating a reunion in Britain with her husband Frank after serving as a combat nurse in World War II. While on a trip to a tourist attraction - an ancient stone circle known as Craigh na Dun - she is suddenly sucked back in time to war-torn Scotland in 1743. She is befriended by a group of Scottish outlaws who are suspicious of her dress and speech. Though they assume she is a British spy, they warm slightly to her when she saves the life of their young comrade, Jamie, an escapee from a barbaric prison. Claire is eventually sought after by the cruel and twisted captain of the British garrison. In order to protect her, the Scots decide that she must marry Jamie. By this time she has spent some time with the group, and while she has come to admire Jamie's courage and honor, she is not thrilled with the idea of marrying him, especially when he is five years younger than she is and she is still married to Frank somewhere back in her own time. But eventually she and Jamie grow to have a love that is stronger than her marriage bond, a love that is so intense and

passionate that the two are prepared to lay down their lives for each other - and they very nearly do. Gabaldon doesn't spent a lot of time with the "fish out of water" side of time travel. Claire has experience with tough situations from her campaigns as a war nurse, and she quickly adapts to her new surroundings, treating the wounded as best she can under the primitive conditions. She is a solid, resourceful heroine, whose guilt about betraying Frank gives way to her overwhelming love for Jamie. Ah, Jamie. I think I might be unfaithful for him too. Of all of the heroes I've encountered in my many years of reading, he would have to make the top ten, maybe the top five. The man takes physical punishment for a young girl in the clan so that she won't have to be embarrassed. He rescues Claire almost singlehandedly from being burnt at the stake when she is accused of witchcraft. He starts out as a virgin but manages to teach Claire a thing or two about making love. He can swear a blue streak but he can also be poetic and philosophical. Okay, he's a little bloodthirsty too, but that's a product of his time. The author writes with great energy for a book of this considerable size, jumping from adventure to adventure with barely a breath in between. There's a certainly level of Braveheart-style violence, and some politically incorrect behavior on Jamie's part, but if you can get past that you will be swept away by the passion and intensity between Claire and Jamie. By the time Claire almost literally rescues Jamie's soul the reader is almost exhausted by the sheer emotion of it all. Their relationship develops, matures and is tested, but it never wavers. I must admit that several friends, whose book opinions I respect, have told me they didn't like Outlander or had trouble getting through it. It is not a lighthearted read, for sure. There's a very high body count, and some brutal torture scenes. But for me all of that was outweighed by the epic-style adventure and truly satisfying romance that made the novel a "Dove Bar" experience. Gabaldon followed this novel up with Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager and Drums of August. All of them are enjoyable (and of similarly impressive length) but none approach the sheer drama and passion of Outlander. Readers should also be aware that the Happily Ever After in Outlander is tenuous at best, and a lot of questions are left unanswered. Fortunately, Gabaldon followed this novel up with Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, and Drums of Autumn. All of them are enjoyable (although Dragonfly ends with more tears than anything else) but none approach the sheer drama and passion of Outlander.

Never having read a "romance" novel, I picked up Outlander not realizing it fell, loosely, in the genre. I was hooked by it and devoured all four novels. (I think Drums of Autumn comes closest to Outlander in sheer enjoyment -- my personal aside.) I will now read several recommended "romance" novelists -- perhaps only to discover why certain regular romance readers did not love Outlander and its sequels! But I will keep my hopes high! I like your writing style! Cleverly constructed, well phrased. Keep up your own writing.

REVIEWS:
*- 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. 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! 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. 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! *- 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. *- 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.