In breathless anticipation of and foreplay to the September release of the sixth installment of the Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon, the reviews for episodes one through five will be presented over the next few months starting here with a review of the first, Outlander. A word of warning: if you have any other major projects you wish to accomplish, do not pick up these books. Once you do, you will be so engrossed, so overwhelmingly captured by this magical romantic fantasy story, you will have little motivation to do much else than read.

Claire Randall and her husband Frank have been separated for six years while each served their homeland of England in the second World War: he as a solider, she as a Royal Army nurse. Together once again in 1945, the couple takes a vacation in Inverness, Scotland, where Frank pursues the history of his ancestors and Claire gathers specimens for her growing hobby as a botanist. Their search includes that of their own relationship as they try and heal the chasm caused by such a long separation and hope for conception of a child.

Frank finds some interesting details on a relative of five generations previous named Jonathan Wolverton Randall, otherwise known as Black Jack Randall, who made a mark for himself during the 1745 Jacobite Rising--the third attempt by Scottish nationals to restore the Stuart Kings to the thrones. With Frank deep in his research, Claire becomes interested in the pagan rituals still practiced in the area by the local women.

While out gathering botanical specimens with a local elderly gentleman, Claire is shown a small henge with stones as large as that of Stonehenge but with a smaller circumference. On the day of the Beltane celebration, Frank and Claire hide in the bushes to secretly watch the local women perform a heathen ceremony at the small stone henge. Claire returns the very next day to retrieve a special herb she'd glimpsed while hiding with Frank. As Claire steps into the circle of rocks, an unbearable humming noise assaults her, affecting her mind, causing her to lose consciousness. She awakes to the sounds of shouting voices and blasting gunshots. Turning to the sounds, Claire sees men in kilts running through a field being pursued by men in red coats and knee breeches and brandishing muskets.

At first Claire wonders if she is dreaming or delusional. The first person Claire encounters introduces himself as Captain Jonathan Randall, the very Black Jack Randall whom Frank was researching on his ancestral tree. His astounding physical resemblance to her husband makes Claire suspect that the question of where she is could be better replaced by a question of "when" she is.

Claire is "rescued" from Randall by a Scottish Highlander dressed in full regalia including kilt and plaid. Brought to a stone cottage Claire faces an entire clan of Highlanders and, believing that she may be held for ransom, gives only her maiden name. Here Claire meets Jamie Fraser, a badly wounded, young Scotts man a few years younger than herself. Watching the Highlanders' savage attempts to help the young man, Claire instinctively steps in to help, using her nursing skills to treat him properly. Jamie Fraser is a leading man to die for: a blue-eyed, copper-haired giant of a man as overpoweringly tender as he is masculine, possessing an empathy rarely found in the male species. He shows Claire kindness where others are antagonistic and suspicious. He is powerful and protective, respectful and loving.

Claire tenaciously clings to the belief that she is still in 1945 but the misunderstandings with the people she encounters baffle and confuse her. Even as the realization that she has been hurled back in time takes firm hold in her mind, Claire fights against it with all the conscious power she can muster. As the Highlanders, with Claire in tow, make their way through the countryside to their clan's castle, and the events around her mirror those she knew to be historical fact, she can fight the truth no more. Claire must learn to survive in a world 200 years younger than her own. What follows is one of the most intriguing, well-written sagas ever penned--detailed and vivid, epic in scale, catching up and moving well beyond Gone with the Wind.

The relationship between Claire and Jamie builds slowly, one realistic, romantic step after the other, and we eagerly fall in love right along with them. All the characters within this world are larger than life yet completely and utterly human with all their endearing flaws, quirky senses of humor and richly compelling backgrounds; they pull you into their lives as soon as you meet them.

Outlander, and the entire series, is an absorbing story of great depth and complexity. It encompasses the story of Claire and Jamie, her struggle to return to her own time, and their struggle for survival and love wrapped in the historic backdrop of the Scottish war with the English. The story is accompanied by a multitude of subplots just as enticing and entertaining as the main story. The use of foreshadowing goes beyond that of chapter to chapter but reaches from one book to another, urging the reader through this book and on to the next with intense persuasion. It is as multilayered as a triple lasagna and just as delicious.

Reviewed By: Donna Russo Morin
© May 2005