Outlander (novel)
| Author | Diana Gabaldon |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Outlander series (book 1) |
| Genre | Historical Romance Time travel |
| Publisher | Dell Books |
Publication date | June 1, 1991 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 896 (mass market paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-440-21256-1 (mass market paperback) Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
| OCLC | 26187429 |
| Followed by | Dragonfly in Amber |
Outlander (published in the UK as Cross Stitch) is the first in a series of novels (currently seven) by Diana Gabaldon. The book focuses on two main characters, Claire Randall (née Beauchamp) and Jamie Fraser, and takes place in eighteenth and twentieth-century Scotland.
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. However, the book breaks certain romance genre conventions—the heroine, for instance, is slightly older and more experienced than the hero. The book could be described as a work of historical fiction with a detailed account of eighteenth century Scottish clan life. The novel could also be considered science fiction with a plot propelled by time travel when Claire journeys from the 1940s to the eighteenth century.
It was awarded the RITA Award for "Best romance novel" of 1991.
Plot summary
Claire Randall is a practical woman, a nurse in the British Army during World War II. She and her husband Frank, who were separated during the war, have recently reunited and are enjoying a second honeymoon in Inverness, Scotland. They married there and they believe, the war did not scar so much as it had England. Frank also combined their holiday with some research into his family tree, investigating an ancestor named "Black Jack" Randall, who was a Captain in the Army in the 18th century.
After seeing some obligatory Scottish sites, such as Loch Ness, Claire goes to a nearby site of standing stones to collect plants with a local amateur botanist. He shows her a group of standing stones on the hill of Craigh na Dun. When Claire tells Frank about them, he decides that he wants to see them in hopes of observing a Druid. When they arrive, they witness a group of local women enacting an old pagan ritual. As a history professor, Frank is fascinated; Claire, a budding amateur botanist, is particularly captivated by the flowers and herbs she finds, although the unusual ritual is of interest to her.
After a strange stormy night, when Frank sees what he thinks is a ghost, clad in highland dress including kilt and sporran, staring up at Claire through their window, Claire returns to the stones to collect a specimen she saw the day before. She realizes that she can hear a buzzing noise coming from the stones. The buzzing gets louder as she gets closer and placing her hand on one of the stones, becomes disoriented and blacks out. She wakes up to the sound of a battle off in the distance. Thinking it is a re-enactment or a movie set of some sort, she thinks nothing of it until she tries to find her way home. Things have changed inexplicably, including the fact that her ride is gone. Struggling to find her way back and make sense of her surroundings, she is detained by Captain "Black Jack" Randall, who is, incidentally, the six times great-grandfather of her husband, Frank. To add to her confusion, he is her husband's doppelganger. Unfortunately for Claire, Randall has earned the "Black" in spades and proceeds to attempt to assault Claire, asking her why she is travelling alone in a "state of undress" and concludes that she is a prostitute. She is saved by a short, gnarly Scotsman named Murtagh, who knocks Randall unconscious and takes her to the other Scotsmen of his party who have been rustling cattle.
Still befuddled, Claire cannot understand the situation, and is further puzzled by the men's reaction to her short dress, which everyone thinks is a "shift," and that her legs are bare. Forced to travel with them through the Scottish countryside, Claire sees the lack of modern technology and roadways. She begins to wonder what exactly has happened as the "costumes" and weapons are very realistic. Claire rides with one of the younger Scots, Jamie, whom she met and fixed his dislocated shoulder, after he was wounded during an altercation with the English under "Black Jack's" command.
The Scots are returning to their home, Castle Leoch, seat of the Clan MacKenzie. When questioned by the laird, Colum ban Campbell MacKenzie, Claire claims she was sailing to France to visit relatives and that she lost her gown, luggage and servant when they were attacked. The Scots are very suspicious of her, wondering exactly who she is. Unfortunately nothing can be proved one way or the other and after seeing a letter Colum is writing and figures out when she is for the first time: 1743. The Scots do not trust Claire, viewing her as a "Sassenach"--an outsider to Scottish Highland culture and an Englishwoman to boot--though she gradually earns their acceptance due to her work as a healer. However, throughout the novel, the Scots think she is an English or French spy.
In a grave error of judgment, the war chieftain (think executive officer) of the clan, Dougal MacKenzie, takes Claire to the English for questioning, putting her in the hands of none other than "Black Jack" Randall. After delivering a gut punch, thinking this will make her tell him the truth as he is equally suspicious of her, he demands she be brought back at a later date so that he can interrogate her further about who she is and where she's come from. In order to save Claire from this, Dougal realises the only way to make sure he doesn't have to hand her over to Randall is to make her a Scotswoman legally. He decides she should wed Jamie, solving two problems: "Black Jack"'s demand she be handed over and solving the problem of Jamie being a threat to Colum's son, Hamish, taking over as chief of Clan MacKenzie after Colum's death. As Jamie says a bit later, "Being half MacKenzie is one thing...being half MacKenzie wi' an English wife is quite another" (p. 300, mass market edition). Dougal suggests this to Claire -for her, the quintessential rock-and-a-hard-place with bigamy thrown in for good measure. Claire, after a few stiff drinks, eventually agrees and marries Jamie in the same church - much to Claire's horror - in which she married Frank.
Now by this time, in the best of an arranged-marriage tale, Claire finds that she and Jamie are falling in love, despite her loving Frank and is filled with guilt. Claire's healing skills as a 20th century nurse have saved Jamie several times by now. But as the story progresses, her underlying motive is still to find a way back to the mysterious stone circle. She wants to return to her own time and to her husband, who she is convinced must be worried sick. As life continues at Castle Leoch, Claire's knowledge of the future, her marrying Jamie, and a healthy dose of bad luck, and jealousy, lead to a charge of witchcraft. Thrown into a dismal hole with another accused witch, Geilie Duncan, to await trial, she is rescued in the nick of time by Jamie. During her escape, she realizes that Geilie Duncan has a vaccination scar and must be from the future as well. After they escape, Claire is finally forced to confide the truth to Jamie ...about who she really is and where she is from. Out of love for Claire, Jamie takes her to Craigh na Dun, so she can return to her own time, but Claire decides to stay.
They head for Jamie's home, Lallybroch, but their happiness doesn't last. Jamie has a price on his head and is betrayed by Ronald McNab, a crofter, who is angry with Jamie for insisting that his son becomes a stable-boy after Jamie realizes Ronald has been mistreating the boy. Jamie is taken to Wentworth Prison and sentenced to hang. Sadistic Jack Randall is also transferred to the prison to deal with Jamie's arrest and takes the opportunity to torture Jamie. Claire and Murtagh track Jamie down, and with the help of Jamie's MacKenzie clansmen, they free him from Wentworth Prison. Unfortunately, Jamie promised Jack Randall that he'd sleep with him if he let Claire go. Jack had had other plans for Claire but in revenge, Claire told Jack that she was a witch and cursed him by telling him the date of his death.
Aided by a former suitor of Jamie's mother, Ellen MacKenzie Fraser, Claire patches Jamie up and they escape to France with Jamie's godfather, Murtagh. Arriving in France, they head for the Abbey of Ste. Anne de Beaupre in France, where Jamie's paternal uncle is stationed as Abbot. At Ste. Anne's, Claire tries to heal Jamie, but discovers that broken bones and stitching guts is simple compared to repairing the damage done to his mind. One night, determined to reclaim Jamie from Jack Randall, Claire summons and confronts his demons. 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." But his Uncle, Abbot Alexander, has provided a direction...a letter of introduction for Jamie, "an efficient linguist and translator", to none other than King James of Scotland, living in Rome with his sons Bonnie Prince Charlie and Henry Stuart. Claire and Jamie decide Rome it will be, "to do what they can"(quotes from this paragraph, p 620, Dell Trade Paperback).
And at the last, as they emerge from the healing waters of a sacred hot spring under the Abbey, Claire reveals that she is pregnant with their first child.
As the first in what is now at least an eight-book series (Book 7, An Echo in the Bone, was first published in September 2009, and promises at least one more book) of Claire Fraser and her Highlander husband Jamie, the story is an integral step in a bestselling and surprisingly rich tale spanning the time from the Scottish Rising of 1745, to the American Revolution.
Characters in "Outlander"
Main Characters
Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser: The story's protagonist, a nurse in WWII who finds herself in the Scottish Highlands circa the mid-1700s. In the twentieth century, she was married to Frank Randall, but in the eighteenth century, she marries Jamie Fraser. Claire is a gifted natural physician, and her personality is warm, practical, and independent.
James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser (Jamie) : Claire's husband in the eighteenth century. A strapping young Scottish redhead with a complicated past and a disarming sense of humor. Jamie is intelligent, principled, and by eighteenth century standards, educated and worldly. In The Outlandish Companion Gabaldon says he is partly based on the character of Jamie McCrimmon from Doctor Who.
Frank Randall: Claire's husband in the 1940s; a history professor with a deep interest in his genealogy and heritage.
Jonathan Randall: The primary villain of the story. He is Frank's ancestor and a British army officer. He is also known as "Black Jack." According to Jamie Fraser, the black refers to the colour of his soul. "...and a bloody, filthy, nasty pervert he was!", born Sept. 3, 1705, Claire knows that he will die April 16, 1746 at Culloden.
Colum MacKenzie: The Laird of the MacKenzie clan. He is also Jamie's maternal uncle, and he shelters Jamie and Claire from the English threat. He suffers from Toulouse-Lautrec Syndrome.
Dougal MacKenzie: Colum's brother, who serves as the literal and figurative "body" of the pair, since Colum's health meant he is unable to lead the clan into battle. A Jacobite; biological father of Colum's son, Hamish; took Jamie on as a foster son for a year as a teen; has four daughters. He also fathered another son with Geillis Duncan.
Geillis/Geillie Duncan: Wife of the procurator fiscal; a time-traveler from the 1960s; thought to be a witch; has knowledge of herbs and plants. Mother of Dougal MacKenzie's son and murdered her husband, Arthur Duncan.
Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser: Loyal member of Clan MacKenzie/Fraser; sworn to protect Jamie since he was a baby
Other Characters by time
Inverness 1945
Mrs. Baird: Proprietor of an Inverness Bed & Breakfast where Claire and Frank have a second honeymoon following WWII, a bit nosy
Rev. Dr. Reginald Wakefield: Vicar of the parish, amateur historian and genealogist; consultant to Frank; adoptive father to Roger
Roger MacKenzie Wakefield: The adoptive son of Rev. Wakefield, approximately 5 years old (and who will become a primary character from Book 2 onwards)
Quentin Lambert Beauchamp (deceased): Claire's "Uncle Lamb," an archeologist that raised Claire in various locations around the world
Mr.Crook: An elderly man who first shows her Craigh Na Dun
Ghost: A highlander ghost, presumably Jamie, who encounters Frank days before Claire goes through the stones.
Mrs. Graham: Rev. Wakefield's housekeeper; a Druid who predicts Claire's "love of two men"
Scotland 1743
Prince Charles Edward: "Bonnie Prince Charlie", the Stuart Pretender, 1st mentioned when we learn Dougal is a Jacobite
King James: Exiled Scottish monarch whose court is in Rome; Charles is his heir
King George II: English monarch (House of Hanover)
Rupert MacKenzie: Loyal member of Clan MacKenzie; Jamie's second cousin; Claire has to choose between marrying Rupert and Jamie.
Castle Leoch
Letitia MacKenzie: Wife of Colum; mother of Hamish by Dougal
Alec McMahon MacKenzie (Auld Alec): Master of Horse of Castle Leoch; wears a patch over his missing eye
Laoghaire: Young girl of 16 with her eye on Jamie
Angus Mhor: Beats Jamie (when he takes Laoghaire's punishment); helps Colum with pain by giving him massage
Davie Beaton: (deceased) Healer of Leoch, although not a particularly good one; Claire takes over his surgery
Brian Fraser (Black Brian): (deceased) father of Jamie, Jenny, and Willie, husband of Ellen MacKenzie; bastard son of Lord Lovat and a serving girl
Hamish MacKenzie: Son and heir of Colum, although sired by Dougal
Gwyllyn: Welsh bard, entertainer/singer of Castle Leoch
Arthur Duncan: Husband of Geillis, the procurator fiscal of the village of Cranesmuir
Father Bain: Priest of Cranesmuir, accuses Claire of witchcraft
The tanner's lad: Boy whose ear is nailed to the pillory as punishment
Ned Gowan: Lawyer from Edinburgh, works for Colum. Claire's lawyer at her trial for witchcraft.
Encountered on the road
Horrocks: English deserter who knows that Jamie did not shoot the Sergeant-Major
Hugh Munro: Licensed beggar (due to torture at the hands of the Turks); able messenger; Jamie's friend
Malcolm Grant: Conducts a raid on the MacKenzies along with his two sons
Peter: Drover; sees Claire with a Waterhorse; testifies against her at her witch trial
Waterhorse: the Loch Ness monster; Claire feels a connection with it
Harry: Redcoat deserter who threatens Claire and Jamie while they make love in a (not so) deserted glade. He tries to rape Claire, but is killed by Claire.
Alexander William Roderick MacGregor: Prisoner who hanged himself at Fort William (after being raped by Randall). Jamie has a Bible belonging to him. Jamie feels he owes Alexander a debt.
Return to Castle Leoch and Cranesmuir
Malcolm Grant: Once to marry Ellen MacKenzie by suit (arranged marriage), but the arrangement didn't work out, no longer a MacKenzie ally.
The Duke of Sandringham: "old Willie the arse bandit", has a secret connection to Jack Randall, also a secret Jacobite. He tried to bugger Jamie as a teen.
Janet Robinson: Had an abortion by using a potion Geillis made up; testifies against Geillis
Lallybroch
Jock Graham: from Murch Nardagh; meets Claire and Jamie on the road to Lallybroch
Janet Fraser Murray (Jenny): Jamie's older sister; married to Ian Murray
Ian Murray: Jenny's husband; Jamie's friend since childhood; Missing half of a leg due to a battle injury at Daumier (with Fergus nic Leodhas)
Young Jamie: Jenny and Ian's oldest son; named for his uncle; born August 1741
Mrs. Crook: Housekeeper at Lallybroch
Willie Fraser: Jamie's older brother who died at age eleven
Grannie MacNab: Aids Claire and (particularly) Jamie when Redcoats stop by Lallybroch; mother of four sons and sixteen grandchildren
Rabbie MacNab: Grandson of Grannie MacNab; Beaten by his father
Ronald MacNab: Father of Rabbie, often drunk and beats his son; reluctant to give him over to Jamie as a stable lad; later betrays Jamie to the Watch and is killed in a fire of retribution by the other tenants of Lallybroch
Mrs. Martins: Midwife; helps deliver Jenny's baby
Margaret Ellen Murray (Maggie): Born November 1743 to Jenny and Ian
The Search for Jamie
Robert MacDonald: Member of the Watch whom Jenny and Claire attack and then use to get information about Jamie after he is taken by the Watch
Sir Fletcher Gordon: Civilian governor in charge of Wentworth Prison
Marley- an orderly in Wentworth, a big, disgusting, slow-witted man ("even the whores won't have him") that Randall has with him when he confronts Claire in the cell where Jamie is being held
Hector: Finds Claire in Eldridge Wood near Wentworth after her wolf attack and brings her to MacRannoch
Sir Marcus MacRannoch: Claire is brought to his cottage; His cattle are later used to help break Jamie out of Wentworth; Jamie is also fixed up at his home, Eldridge Manor; Once an admirer of Ellen MacKenzie
Lady Annabelle MacRannoch: Wife of Marcus, helps Claire tend Jamie's wounds
A soldier near Wentworth: Claire must kill him in order to ensure their escape from the area
The Abbey of Ste. Anne de Beaupre
Abbot Alexander Fraser: Jamie's uncle (one of six Fraser uncles)
Brother Ambrose: Tends Jamie's wounds
Brother Bartolome: Monks who observe the Perpetual Adoration
Francois Anselm Mericoeur d'Armagnac (Father Anselm): Befriends Claire; Introduces Claire to the Perpetual Adoration; She is later able to tell him her (true) story; Franciscan; Uses lavender near Jamie (does not know of its significance)