I have heard so many good things about this book. I plan to read it soon.

From the back cover:
On holiday with her husband just after the war, Claire walks through a stone circle in the Scottish highlands and into a violent skirmish taking place in 1743.
A wartime nurse, she can deal with the bloody wounds that face her: it is harder to deal with the knowledge that she is in Jacobite Scotland and the carnage of Culloden is looming. Marooned amid the passion and violence, the superstition, the shifting allegiances and the fervent loyalties, Claire is in terrible danger from Jacobites and Redcoats – and from the shock of her own desire for a courageous renegade.

This book of 864 pages is a great read if you like romantic adventure stories. I must say that I was a bit disappointed in the book as I had thought I would learn more about Scottish history, but it is all about romance and sex. I found it hard to get into the story at first, because there were a few things that did not sit well with me. For instance, it seemed very unlikely to me that Claire, who remained faithful to her husband during six years of separation in World War II, agrees so willingly to sleep with Jamie. Okay, the marriage had to be consummated in order to stay out of the hands of the Redcoats, but I would have liked to read more about Claire’s inner struggle to give in to her passion for Jamie. And what’s more, Claire seems to know quite a lot about sex and has no problem whatsoever talking about it. Were women really that liberated back in 1946? I have a hard time believing that. She would have had a lot of inhibitions, I should think. Also, there are some disturbing inconsistencies in the story. For instance, there is a price on Jamie’s head, yet Jamie and Claire can spend a few months at Lallybroch without getting caught by the Redcoats. You would think that Jamie’s homestead was the first place the Redcoats would look!
In spite of all this, the book is very thrilling, written with a lot of humour. The grand finale is a wonderful feat of breathtaking storytelling.

This book is the first in a series. The sequels are: Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross.

Released on Sunday, August 01, 2004 at Jane Goodall Instituut in Deventer, Overijssel Netherlands.

Note: Different cover art

Oh those poor stairs... So full of books... I'll take just one more (yeah right), to make some room...

This was a *very* fast read. I read the last 400 pages almost in one go. It's been a long time since I read so much so fast, and it felt really good to be able to do that again...

Now about the book itself: first of all, I'm glad the story had a real ending. After I saw (halfway through the book) that it was the first of a series, I was afraid that the storylines would not get wrapped up at the end of the book, but fortunately most of them were. I loved the descriptions of the Scottish people and the nature, and the accent, you could actually hear them talking. I also liked the main characters and most of the side characters a lot. The vivid descriptions really made them come alive. I was a bit disappointed that so much of the book revolved around the romance between Claire and Jamie. Especially right after the wedding, there's pages and pages with just the both of them talking and wandering around and making out. A bit more action would have been nice there.

I agree with Suzy26 that I expected a woman from the 1940's to be less emancipated and have more inhibitions. I thought her behaviour overall was more like a woman from the 80's or 90's, but I might be prejudiced of course.

All in all it was a very exciting book. Lots of thrills and tension build-ups that made me read on and on without daring to stop. Towards the end the story drove on faster and faster, leaving me quite satisfied (although maybe not dying to read all the other books in the series...).