Voyager by Diana Gabaldon

          Outlander #3

          Another great book by Diana Gabaldon!  I am so pleased I found this series. I’ve enjoyed every moment of these very long books. Gabaldon has made her way onto my list of favorite authors.

          Voyager is the third book in the Outlander series. After thoroughly enjoying the first two, Outlander and Dragonfly In Amber, [Outlander, Dragonfly In Amber] I was looking forward to this one. In the first book, Claire travels two hundred years back through time and finds herself in Scotland just prior to the Jacobite uprising. While there, she meets, marries and falls in love with Jamie Frasier, a large, handsome charismatic Scot. She tells him that the Scottish forces will be massacred at Culloden Field, and as the battle approaches, she discovers she is pregnant. Jamie sends her back through time on the eve of the battle, intending to go back and die on the field. Claire returns to her own time and bears Jamie’s child.

          In the second book, Claire takes her daughter, Brianna, on a trip to Scotland with the intent of telling her who her biological father is, and attempting to explain the time travel. Claire tells the tale of her love affair with Jamie and of their adventures together. While there, Brianna discovers Jamie Frasier’s grave and Claire realizes for the first time that Jamie did not die at Culloden.

          Now, Claire works to discover where she might find Jamie Frasier twenty years after the battle of Culloden. Through the exhaustive efforts of Brianna and her historian boyfriend, they track down clues that indicate Jamie is working as a printer in Edinburgh.

          Claire gathers what she can and prepares to travel back through the stones to find her one true love. It is wrenching to leave Brianna, but she cannot stay away. She goes back through the stone and begins the trek to the city.

          Upon arriving in Edinburgh, Claire gets directions to the printing house she believes is now owned by Jamie. She sees him and knows she was right to return to him, but is nervous about his reaction.  When he turns around and sees her, he faints dead away! 

          Jamie and Claire then embark on the journey of relearning each other – neither is really the same person they were when they parted twenty years earlier. Their personal journey is paralleled in the book by their physical journey from Scotland to the New World.  It is fun and exciting with twists and turns in both treks that kept me on the edge of my seat. 

          I highly recommend this book.  I would also suggest reading the first two before picking this one up though.

Dragonfly In Amber by Diana Gabaldon

          Outlander #2

          I was very impressed with Outlander, the first book in this series, so I had high hopes for Dragonfly In Amber.  I was not disappointed. And, I must say, I cannot wait to get my hands on Voyager, the third book in the series.

          This book picks up with Clair returning to Scotland twenty years after going back through the cloven stone to 1947. She returns with her daughter, Brianna. It is her intention to see if a local historian can tell her the fates of a number of men who were known to have been on the field in Culloden at the final disastrous attempt of Bonnie Prince Charlie to regain the British throne for his father.

          While she is there, she also intends to tell her daughter the story of her travel back in time to 1743, of her marriage to James Frasier, and the fact that Brianna is actually Frasier’s daughter.

          While visiting a churchyard with the historian who is researching the men on Clair’s list, Brianna comes upon the grave of Jamie Frasier.  She does not realize who he was to Clair or to herself.  She only knows this is one of the men who played a major role in the part of history they are exploring. Brianna excitedly calls her mother over to examine her find.

          Despite having twenty years in which to come to terms with Jamie’s death, the sight of his tombstone sends Clair into a frenzy of grief. Her behavior is completely inexplicable to her daughter, and her explanation is even more so.

          The majority of the book is taken up with Clair remembering the time she spent with Jamie in France while there was a price on Jamie’s head in Scotland.  While there, they did everything they could to ensure that Prince Charles did not gain the resources to stage the rising that Clair knew would end with the deaths of so many Scots at Culloden. They were ultimately unsuccessful. The rising occurred and the massacre ensued.

          As dawn breaks on the morning of the battle at Culloden, Jamie insists Clair return through the cloven stone to her own time. He must remain and attempt to save his men, and then die a warrior’s death on the battlefield instead of a traitor’s death later. Clair, who is pregnant with Brianna, finally agrees in order to save them both.

          And, it would appear that this amazing love story has reached its end. But there is another book, so maybe not.

          I’ve read recently that these books are being made into a cable TV series.  I’d definitely watch it. I absolutely recommend this book. I laughed and cried and contemplated the intricate tangle of time brought about by the circumstances of the story. This is another very long book, but Gabaldon has once again done a great job of storytelling.

The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon

               This book is part of a larger series called the Lord John novels. The series and its novels are outlined in the Preface to the book – and I gotta tell ya, I was totally confused by the time I’d finished reading it. So, with great trepidation, I opened Section I.

               And, was pleasantly surprised at how easily I followed the story line. I must admit, it did help that I am somewhat familiar with the historical time period and the customs of the British upper class. Without that background, some of the activities would be pretty inexplicable.

               I enjoyed the characters and the plot line.  The action moved along at a good pace.  I have not yet decided If I want to read the whole series, but I have added the first one, Outlander (if I interpreted the Preface correctly), to my book list.