A Scottish Laird in King George's America

[bibliogramma]

Diana Gabaldon:
Voyager
Drums of August
The Fiery Cross
A Breath of Snow and Ashes

Last year, I discovered Diana Gabaldon’s timetravelling romance series about modern-day English nurse (later doctor) Claire Duchamp and 18th century scottish laird and Jacobite supporter Jamie Fraser. I read the first two volumes, Outlanter and Dragonfly in Amber, and enjoyed them very much. I liked the dynamics between the lovers, and the complexities resulting from the displacement of Claire, with her medical experience and modern values, to Jamie’s violent and often superstitious Scotland.

In Dragonfly in Amber, we met Brianna, the grown-up daughter of Claire and Jamie, raised in the 20th century by Claire and her first husband, Frank Randall (the descendent of Captain Jack Randall, the main villain of the first volume), and celebrated at last the reunion of Claire and Fraser after a 20-year separation.

But there were a lot of books in the series still to read, and earlier this year, I read them.

Voyager takes Claire and Jamie from Scotland to the New World, while in the 20th century, Brianna begins to form an attachment with Scottish historian Roger MacKenzie (who is the descendant of the timetraveller Geillis, who is a minor antagonist in the 18th century stoyline, and a collateral branch of Jaime’s own family). Drums of August, The Fiery Cross, and A Breath of Snow and Ashes tell the story of Claire, Jamie, Brianna and Roger in pre-Revolutionary America.

There are many twists and turns, with Jamie re-establishing himself as a landowner and leader of a community of (mostly) Scottish immigrants to the Colonies, trying to negotiate a path between the Crown and the growing revolutionary movement (warned by the timetravelling members of his family that the revolutionaries will win in the end) in an attempt to keep his family and his community safe in violent times.

After six volumes, some of the plot devices are becoming repetitive. This is Jamie and Claire’s second rebellion, this is Jamie’s second time trying to protect the people he counts as his from war and political turbulence. Just about everyone has been abduct at least once, and in some cases more than once, Claire keeps running into other timetravellers at the strangest moments and so on. But the sweep and momentum of the tale remains strong, and the story of Claire and Jamie is just as engaging, even compelling as ever.

I hear the there is at least one more volume coming, and I'll be waiting for it.