Gabaldon’s Outlander series, book one, first published in 1991, is available on Amazon in hardcover, paperback, Kindle, or audiobook formats, as well as your local library or through the Libby App. The book explores themes of sexual violence, sadism, and historical context that can be construed as domestic abuse now. Some readers may find scenes triggering, but the novel offers a compelling story. It is a beautifully crafted work, distinct from typical time-travel love stories. Gabaldon’s extensive research creates a rich, detailed world filled with vivacious, scheming, devoted, and endearing characters. The heavy volume has pacing issues: nonstop drama and action continue until about page two hundred, then stall before picking up again, and contains violence judged by today’s standards rather than the eighteenth-century context.

In 1945, Claire Randall, a former combat nurse back from the war and reunited with her husband, Frank, is on a second honeymoon in the scenic Scottish Highlands. One morning, they hike up to a nearby stone circle to witness a group of women performing a mysterious ritual amidst the ancient stones.

“They should have been ridiculous, and perhaps they were. A collection of women in bedsheets, many of them stout and far from agile, parading in circles on top of a hill. but the hair prickled on the back of my neck at the sound of their call.”

Not wanting to be discovered by the women, they leave the circle, but Claire returns to the circle later. A buzzing sound invades her senses, and without warning, Claire goes through the stone, whisking her through time to the year 1743 in the scheming, brutish highlands, and she can’t make herself think it’s real. Claire gets assaulted by Jack Randall, Frank’s ancestor, kidnapped by a band of highlanders, and meets Jamie Fraser, a man so complex and layered, who’ll become her fiercest protector.

Claire wants to get back to the stone circle in Inverness, back to Frank. She has no clue how to manage it. For now, she’s a ‘guest’ of Colum MacKenzie at Castle Leoch and under the watchful eye of Dougal MacKenzie and his men. Claire cannot fathom how to escape. Her attempt causes trouble for Jamie on the night of the Gathering. After this foiled crack at escape, Claire is even more determined to find a way back to the stones. Answers to her prayers when Dougal brings her along with the party going out to collect the tenants’ rents. Being a suspected English spy by Colum and Dougal, Claire hadn’t thought Dougal would bring her to the English garrison to meet the lieutenant in charge to confirm her ‘story’ and find her English connections as opposed to the French ones she’d mentioned to Colum. Coming face-to-face with none other than Jack Randall, Claire knows she’s in trouble.

Gabaldon created the most unscrupulously vile villain in this one man, Jack Randall. His single-minded, zealous hunt for Jamie is manic. And his wanting to know who Claire really is, where she came from, and what her intentions are is frantic. He’s a ruthless, soulless bastard, and readers can’t help but hate him for all the pain he causes. The fact that he doesn’t believe a word coming out of Claire’s mouth is no surprise, when he gut punches with violent force enough to mention that if she were with child, she wouldn’t be for long. His astonishing behavior continues until Claire can breathe no more. When Randall permits them to leave, it is with instructions to return the English subject for questioning in three days. Dougal has other plans. He’ll transform Claire into a Scot through marriage. As much as she disagrees with this plan, Claire must concede to the logic and find herself before the altar next to James Alexander Malcom MacKenzie Fraser. One of the most romantic scenes in the book, the words resonantly true from him, and only parroted by her. It’s priceless.

“Ye are Blood of my Blood, and Bone of my Bone.
I give ye my Body, that we Two might be One.
I give ye my Spirit, ’til our life shall be Done.”

A most challenging scene in the novel will be when Jamie must ‘punish’ Claire for not listening to him and getting captured by Redcoats, getting herself under Randall’s thumb once again, putting the men in danger when they have to rescue her. For such a feat, theyd have flogged a man within an inch of his life; as she’s a woman, it’s up to her husband to mete out the punishment and ensure she understands the severity of her action. Jamie administers the strap, a concept so barbaric to Claire; she cannot fathom why this is happening after she’s apologized. Jamie reasons with her that it’s the way of things, and this is where readers must give major props to Gabaldon, as she did not shy away from the period’s methods or traditions, even though they may seem controversial or barbaric to the audience nowadays.

The intrigues and suspicions are nonstop, with Claire tried as a witch, and Jamie must defend her before an angry mob. Jamie is captured by the watch and imprisoned in Wentworth prison, and Claire must find a way to release him before he hangs. Randall continues his bestial attack on Jamie. It’s a whirlwind of a read and well worth four stars.