Outlander (novel)
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| 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 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 fantasy with a plot propelled by time travel when Claire journeys from 1945 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 Frank 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 traditional Scottish sites, such as Loch Ness, Claire goes plant-gathering with an amateur botanist. He shows her a group of standing stones on the hill of Craigh na Dun. Claire tells Frank and he tells her that a group of local women will be enacting a pagan ritual and that the local vicar's housekeeper is one of them. As a history professor, Frank is fascinated; Claire, a budding botanist, is particularly captivated by the flowers and herbs she finds, although the unusual ritual is of interest to her. Returning the next day for a particular plant that interests her, Claire realizes she can hear a buzzing noise from the stones and investigates. The buzzing gets louder as she approaches but makes her disoriented and she blacks out, waking to the sound of battle in the distance. Assuming it is a re-enactment or a movie set, she takes a detour through woods suddenly thicker than they were. Struggling to make sense of her surroundings, she bumps into Captain "Black Jack" Randall, who is, incidentally, Frank's six times great-grandfather and double, physically. Unfortunately for Claire, Randall has earned the "Black" in spades and detains her, asking why she is travelling alone in a "state of undress" and concludes that she is a prostitute. She is saved by an unknown Scotsman who knocks Randall unconscious and takes her with him when he rejoins his party who have been rustling cattle. Still befuddled, Claire doesn't understand the situation, and further puzzled by the reactions to her dress, which everyone calls 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 wondering exactly what has happened as the "costumes" and weapons are very realistic.
Claire rides with one of the younger Scots, Jamie. Jamie's shoulder had been dislocated during the fight with the English under "Black Jack's" command. Claire reduced the dislocation (using her 20th century medical knowledge) upon seeing his companions about to force the shoulder back into place, a procedure that would have crippled him.
The Scots return to their home, Castle Leoch, seat of the Clan MacKenzie. When questioned by the laird, Callum ban Campbell MacKenzie, Claire claims she was sailing to France to visit relatives and lost her gown, luggage, and servant when they were attacked. The Scots are suspicious, wondering exactly who she is. Unfortunately nothing can be proved and after seeing a letter Callum is writing, she realises when she is for the first time: 1743. The Scots see Claire as a "Sassenach" -- an outsider to Scottish Highland culture and an Englishwoman to boot—though she earns their respect, due to her work as a healer. Wanting to learn more of Claire, Dougall takes both her and Jamie, on the yearly rent collection on the lands of the MacKenizie.
Jack Randall wishes to talk again to Claire and seeks her out. After an argument ensued by Dougal and Jack, over Jack's mistreatment of Claire, Dougal refuses, on Jack's further request, to let Claire be questioned. He is informed by Ned Gowan, the clan's lawyer, that the only solution is to make her a Scotswoman by marriage. Dougal tells her to wed Jamie, but suggests other men when she refuses. Claire tells Dougal she can't marry anyone, but admits she isn't married. (In 1743, she thinks, after all, she isn't yet even born!) Dougal ignores her. She gives in and marries Jamie in the same church—much to her horror—where she married Frank. By now, Claire—impressed that Jamie insisted on finding her a decent gown to marry in and demanded a private room in which to consummate their marriage—has grown fonder of Jamie and the friendship she feels towards him, therefore makes her feel guilty that she must deceive him, through her plans to get back to Frank.
Claire's healing skills as a 20th century nurse save Jamie repeatedly but as the story progresses, she is determined to return to the stone circle and Frank, knowing he must be worried sick. As life continues at Castle Leoch, Claire's marriage to Jamie, ignorance of local superstition, and jealousy towards her lead to a charge of witchcraft. Thrown into a hole with another accused witch, Geilie Duncan, to await trial, she is rescued by Jamie. Just before her escape, she realizes that Geilie Duncan is from the future too. When Jamie asks her to explain, she initially tells him she can't as he won't believe her, saying it's easier to call her a witch.
Shocked by Claire's explanation, he takes her to the stone circle and tells her to return to Frank - seeing for himself, that Claire is telling the truth about the stones. Jamie leaves her there to decide if she wants to return to Frank or stay with him. He is over the moon with her decision to stay and he takes her to his home, Lallybroch, but their happiness doesn't last.
Jamie has a price on his head and is betrayed by Ronald McNab, one of his tenants. Angry that Jamie, after being told by Claire and Grannie McNab of Ronald's abuse of the child, insists Rabbie become a stable-boy at Lallybroch. Jamie is held at Wentworth Prison and sentenced to hang. Sadistic Jack Randall is also at Wentworth and takes the opportunity to torture Jamie. Jamie, however, promises Jack that he'll sleep with him if he lets Claire go. Jack agrees and in revenge, Claire tells Jack she is a witch, cursing him with the "gift" of knowledge that he will marry and have a son but will die before the child's born, giving him the date of his death.
Aided by Sir Marcus MacRannoch, a former suitor of Jamie's mother, Ellen MacKenzie Fraser, Claire, Jamie's relatives and men employed by Sir Marcus, rescue Jamie. She patches him up and they escape to Ste. Anne de Beaupre's monastery in France, where Jamie's uncle is stationed as Abbot. At Ste. Anne's, Claire tries healing Jamie, but discovers broken bones are simple, compared to repairing the damage done to his mind. 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." His Uncle, Abbot Alexander, provides Jamie with a letter of introduction, describing Jamie as, "an efficient linguist and translator", to 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).
Whilst at the abbey, Claire learns more about her faith - she was christened Catholic but not raised as one - and receives absolution from a friendly monk. He describes her as a shipwrecked traveller, forced to survive in a strange land as best she can. He describes her marriages as something she should leave in God's hands as nothing can be done about them. 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.
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/Geilie 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 MacKenzie: 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; first person to welcome Claire and Jamie back to Lallybroch
Janet Fraser Murray (Jenny): Jamie's older sister; married to Ian Murray
Ian Murray: Jenny's husband; Jamie's friend since childhood; Lost the lower part of his right leg, below the knee, after an infection of a grape shot wound received during a battle 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 of smallpox 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)