Outlander by Diana Gabaldon is a surprisingly amazing book. As the first book in the series it is a wonderful start to what I expect will be a long and extremely entertaining tale. I first discovered Outlander on Netflix about a year ago and quickly fell in love with Claire, Jamie, and the Scottish Highlands in general. I did not even finish watching the first season because I wanted to read the book(s) first to do them proper justice. From what I have noticed the Netflix series has remained as close to the book as it seem possible. Now that I have book one completed I feel it’s finally safe to finish watching the first series. Enough of that, on to the book itself.
Outland follows Claire Randall, a young military nurse who is reunited with her husband, Frank, just after WWII. The couple decided to go to the Highlands for a sort of second honeymoon and so that Frank can continue tracking his family history. Bored with all of the ancestry stuff Claire decides to look for interesting plants as her hobby is botany and finds a local willing to show her some places of interest. One of these places is Craigh na Dun, a stone circle.
Claire tells Frank of Craigh na Dun and those that supposedly still worship there. Gaining his interest as well the couple hide out near the circle and are able to watch a May Day (solstice rite). During the rite Claire notices a rare plant and decides to go back for it later. This is when the past and present combine and Claire is pulled into sixteenth century (check this) Scotland. She must now find a way to survive in the war torn land of the past Highlands and try to make her way back to Craigh na Dun and Frank, but to do so she must gain the trust of the Scottish Clan that she finds herself with and learn to be a part of their society.
While I am not normally one for Romance or Historical Fiction the book combines both of these genres together without it becoming a sappy story. With the addition of myths, legends, and witchcraft I highly recommend this book.
