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.
“Oh, aye, Sassenach. I am your master . . . and you’re mine. Seems I canna possess your soul without losing my own.”
Outlander is a beautifully complex and mesmerizing story with multi-layered characters, authentic settings and dramatic, unexpected and all-encompassing storylines. It’s the kind of book that you will live through alongside the main characters – you will feel Claire’s bewilderment and fear, her gutsy determination, her love and heartbreak and you will feel as though you are standing alongside her in every aspect of her life. The historical context is so accurate it is amazing!
For a while now, people kept recommending Outlander to me, but I avoided the books because, for one, the sheer size of the series daunted me, and two, I was put off by the time travel aspect (ironic, since I love Doctor Who!) But, I often find that time-travel literature can be cheesy and too unrealistic to be believable.
However, now I have finally read Outlander, I can confidently say that it is the most original historical romance I have ever, ever read. It was way more involved that the typical man meets woman trope, and it was so historically accurate and vivid I felt myself completely submerged in the world of the Scottish Highlands, 1743, for the whole two weeks I was reading it.
Claire is a World War II combat nurse who accidentally wanders through an ancient stone circle in Inverness whilst on a post-war honeymoon with her husband, Frank, in 1945. She suddenly finds herself in the 18th Century. Even in this, she is brilliant – sarky, intelligent, with a quick wit and a quick tongue to match. She’s compassionate, competent, a kick-ass nurse and an independent woman who doesn’t let the abrupt, seemingly-impossible change to her timeline phase her. She’s a refreshing change from the princess-type heroines of a lot of historical fiction.
Jamie Fraser, the Scottish Clansman who slowly becomes the love of her life, is at times sweet and heart-stoppingly romantic, and others an extremely dangerous and passionate warrior. He is one of the most charismatic and appealing male leads I’ve read in a long, long time. And every time he calls Claire a Sassenach… God. I go weak at the knees! Understandably, however, readers are completely divided over Jamie because, although he is gorgeous and lovable for the majority of the novel, there is one extremely disturbing scene that enrages any 21st-Century reader, including myself. As upsetting as the scene was (I won’t mention it due to spoilers, but it deals with domestic abuse) it was very accurate to the times and the way that a man would have treated his wife in that period. Although it doesn’t excuse it, I was able to forgive and get past it and still fall in love with Jamie, just as Claire does, as I could view it within its historical context. There are quite a few sexually abusive scenes in the novel, which, although they do not subtract from the overall enjoyment of the story, they are quite hard to get through.
Regardless of this, what is so brilliant about Gabaldon’s characters and the world she has created is that they are delightfully multi-dimensional, and extremely complex, just as real people and real life can be. Claire somehow finds the courage to made difficult choices in a period of history when choices were often non-existent for women. She is stubborn and determined almost to a fault, and she has a passion and unending support for Jamie that matches his own for her perfectly. Jamie, on the outside, is tough and warrior-like, while on the inside, he is kind and sensitive, with excellent intuition and a backstory full of pain and suffering. He is also intelligent, self-depreciating and almost poetic in the things he says to Claire.
“When I asked my da how ye knew which was the right woman, he told me when the time came, I’d have no doubt. And I didn’t. When I woke in the dark under that tree on the road to Leoch, with you sitting on my chest, cursing me for bleeding to death, I said to myself, ‘Jamie Fraser, for all ye canna see what she looks like, and for all she weighs as much as a good draft horse, this is the woman'”
Their romance is probably my favourite part of the novel – there is true honesty between them, which brings an openness and vulnerability to both of the characters which is such a beautiful addition to the story. I love the way that the author creates a strong friendship between them before they become lovers, and then lets this friendship continue to grow deeper even after they are married. The intimacy level of these two characters is perfectly depicted, and the best that I have read in a novel for a long time, and not just because of the sex.
Outlander was so meticulously researched and Gabaldon manages to weave all the historical accuracies into the plot without destroying the authenticity of the emotional journey. At its heart, Outlander is a historical novel that is packed full of details of 18th Century life in the Scottish Highlands, and as well as recounting events leading up to the Jacobite rising of 1745, the character’s lives are deeply delved in to and an extraordinary picture is painted that truly transports you to another time and place.
There is adventure, history, fantasy, romance, violence and drama. Outlander is a book that literally sucks you into its pages. It is a fully immersive experience that is so engrossing, you find it almost impossible to put it down.
Fiona Reads 