Outlander: A Novel

Diana Gabaldon

Oct 2004 · Outlander Book 1 · Sold by Dell

About this ebook

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW A STARZ ORIGINAL 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 the hearts of millions of fans. Here is the story that started it all, introducing two remarkable characters, Claire Beauchamp Randall and Jamie Fraser, in a spellbinding novel of passion and history that combines exhilarating adventure with a love story for the ages.

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

Scottish Highlands, 1945. Claire Randall, a former British 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 clans in the year of Our Lord . . . 1743.

Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of a world that threatens her life, and may shatter her heart. Marooned amid danger, passion, and violence, Claire learns her only chance of safety lies in Jamie Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior. What begins in compulsion becomes urgent need, and Claire finds herself torn between two very different men, in two irreconcilable lives.

This eBook includes the full text of the novel plus the following additional content:
• An excerpt from Diana Gabaldon’s Dragonfly in Amber, the second novel in the Outlander series 
• An interview with Diana Gabaldon 
• An Outlander reader’s guide

Praise for Outlander

“Marvelous and fantastic adventures, romance, sex . . . perfect escape reading.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“History comes deliciously alive on the page.”—New York Daily News

Ratings and reviews

I feel like this book would've been better if it were tighter. It could have easily been half the length--and better for it. Also, I'm not sure I'm in love with the author's use of both first person and third person omniscient when a character tells a story. I'm not in love with the book, but I didn't hate it. It's just OK. They changed the cover of the book, which angers me. Don't know why they're allowed to update my purchased media without permission.

I liked the beginning it had botany, herbology, folklore and history. The main character had an interesting back story. After the romance started most of that stopped. It became about sex, attempted rape and abuse. I disliked it more and more until the love interest actually beat the main character with a leather strap and she forgave him. I'm all about historical realism but will not put up with abuse in any form. I just can't respect either character afterwards.

Could not put it down. I can't believe that I almost never read it! I randomly watched one of Outlander's season 3 episodes on TV but I realized I needed to start at the beginning. I like historical fiction. On the shelves, Gabaldon happens to be near Gregory, so while browsing in a bookstore I discovered that Outlander was based on a series of books! Duhhhh! Now I must catch up and read books 2 & 3 and maybe 4 before the next season starts.

About the author

Diana Gabaldon is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the wildly popular Outlander novels—Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voy­ager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross, A Breath of Snow and Ashes (for which she won a Quill Award and the Corine International Book Prize), An Echo in the Bone, Written in My Own Heart’s Blood, and Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone—as well as the related Lord John Grey books, Lord John and the Private Matter, Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade, Lord John and the Hand of Devils, and The Scottish Prisoner; a collection of novellas, Seven Stones to Stand or Fall; three works of nonfiction, “I Give You My Body . . .” and The Outlandish Com­panion, Volumes 1 and 2; the Outlander graphic novel The Exile; and The Official Outlander Coloring Book. She lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, with her husband.