Drums of Autumn, Outlander Series, Diana Gabaldon, Book

Synopsis

It began in Scotland, at an ancient stone circle. There, a doorway, open to a select few, leads into the past--or the grave. Claire Randall survived the extraordinary passage, not once buy twice. Her first trip swept her into the arms of Jamie Fraser, an eighteenth-century Scot whose love for her became legend--a tale of tragic passion that ended with her return to the present to bear his child. Her second journey, two decades later, brought them together again in frontier America. But Claire had left someone behind in the twentieth century. Their daughter Brianna...

Now, Brianna has made a disturbing discovery that sends her to the stone circle and a terrifying leap into the unknown. In search of her mother and the father she has never met, she is risking her own future to try to change history...and to save their lives. But as Brianna plunges into an uncharted wilderness, a heartbreaking encounter may strand her forever in the past...or root her in the place she should be, where her heart and soul belong...

Annotation

From the bestselling author of Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, and Voyager comes the exquisite fourth novel in the romantic, time-travel tale of Jamie Fraser and Claire Randall. 1767: On the even of the American Revolution, Jamie and Claire land on the shores of Charleston to begin a new life. Jamie, determined to stay away from the rumblings of a war that is not his own, soon realizes that war spares no one--and that love is worth fighting for. The long-anticipated continuation of the best-selling, century-spanning family saga.

Publishers Weekly

Gabaldon has few rivals in writing exciting-and hefty-historical romances. The fourth in a series of linked sagas (Outlander; Dragonfly in Amber; Voyager), her new epic has a delicious premise. Claire Randall, the post-WWII bride of historian Frank Randall, steps through a skew in the Scottish stone circle Craigh na Dun and lands in Revolutionary America and the arms of Highlander Jamie Fraser-putting a new spin on the notion of a two-timing woman. Bold and bawdy, but a believing Catholic, Claire struggles to live a rich and moral life-or, rather, rich and moral lives-under these extraordinary circumstances. Claire's adventures in 18th-century Charleston alternate with equally engaging chapters devoted to her 20th-century daughter, Brianna. Raised as Frank Randall's child, Bree discovers that Jamie Fraser is her real sire. She takes off on a harrowing, confrontational quest through time and space with her suitor, Roger Wakefield, in hot pursuit. Gabaldon's range is impressive, whether she's evoking the rawness of colonial America, the cozy clutter of a modern Scottish parsonage, the lusts of the body or the yearnings of the spirit. Her legion of fans will love diving into this ocean of romance.

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Biography

Are they histories? Fantasies? Science fiction? While it may be impossible to categorize the books Diana Gabaldon calls �historical fantasias,� it hardly matters to the author�s huge and loyal fan base, all of whom are just eager to devour Gabaldon�s richly detailed, complexly plotted, extravagantly romantic romps through time, space, and breathtaking landscapes.

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Customer Reviews

Number of Reviews: 28
Average Rating:
Write a Review

Weak Link
April, book devourer, 12/31/2007

The fourth in the Outlander series. Claire, a 20th century Englishwoman steps through a circle of stones and is transported 200 years back in time, where she falls in love with 18th century Scotsman, Jamie Fraser. Some reviewers comment that this is the weak link in the series. I agree. While Jamie and Claire fascinate me, and I cannot get enough of them, there were other characters who did not interest me at all. Overall, this is an excellent author.

Wow!
M.O., San Diego, CA, A reviewer, 12/20/2007

When recommended by the Barnes & Noble staff to read this series, I admit I was skeptical - all of the books each looked so thick. Wow! I'm now on the 4th book and I loved #1-#3. If you love romance, passion and history, you will love this series. I can't wait to read about Lord John Grey too. Enjoy your reading.

More Customer Reviews

Fact File

Name:
Diana Gabaldon

Also Known As:
Diana Jean Gabaldon (full name)

Current Home:
Flagstaff, Arizona

Date of Birth:
January 11, 1952

Place of Birth:
Flagstaff, Arizona

Education:
B.S., Northern Arizona University, 1973; M.S., Scripps Oceanographic Institute; Ph.D., Northern Arizona University, 1979

Awards:
Favorite Book of the Year, Romance Writers of America, 1991 (for Outlander); Romantic Times Career Achievement Award, 1997; Odom Heritage Award, 2000; Quill Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror, 2006

* Diana Gabaldon's official web site

Biography

To millions of fans, Diana Gabaldon is the creator of a complex, original, and utterly compelling amalgam of 18th-century romantic adventure and 20th-century science fiction. To the publishing industry, she's a grassroots-marketing phenomenon. And to would-be writers everywhere who worry that they don't have the time or expertise to do what they love, Gabaldon is nothing short of an inspiration.

Gabaldon wrote her first novel while juggling the demands of motherhood and career: in between her job as an ecology professor, she also had a part-time gig writing freelance software reviews. Gabaldon had never written fiction before, and didn't intend to publish this first novel, which she decided to call Outlander. This, she decided, would be her "practice novel". Worried that she might not be able to pull a plot and characters out of thin air, she settled on a historical novel because "it's easier to look things up than to make them up entirely."

The impulse to set her novel in 18th-century Scotland didn't stem -- as some fans have assumed�from a desire to explore her own familial roots (in fact, Gabaldon isn't even Scottish). Rather, it came from watching an episode of the British sci-fi series Dr. Who and becoming smitten with a handsome time traveler in a kilt. A time-travel element crept into Gabaldon's own book only after she realized her wisecracking female lead couldn't have come from anywhere but the 20th century. The resulting love affair between an intelligent, mature, sexually experienced woman and a charismatic, brave, virginal young man turned the conventions of historical romance upside-down.

Gabaldon has said her books were hard to market at first because they were impossible to categorize neatly. Were they historical romances? Sci-fi adventure stories? Literary fiction? Whatever their genre (Gabaldon eventually proffered the term "historical fantasias"), they eventually found their audience, and it turned out to be a staggeringly huge one.

Even before the publication of Outlander, Gabaldon had an online community of friends who'd read excerpts and were waiting eagerly for more. (In fact, her cohorts at the CompuServe Literary Forum helped hook her up with an agent.) Once the book was released, word kept spreading, both on the Internet and off, and Gabaldon kept writing sequels. (When her fourth book, "Drums of Autumn," was released, it debuted at No. 1 on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list, and her publisher, Delacorte, raced to add more copies to their initial print run of 155,000.)

With her books consistently topping the bestseller lists, it's apparent that Gabaldon's appeal lies partly in her ability to bulldoze the formulaic conventions of popular fiction. Salon writer Gavin McNett noted approvingly, "She simply doesn't pay attention to genre or precedent, and doesn't seem to care that identifying with Claire puts women in the role of the mysterious stranger, with Jamie -- no wimp in any regard -- as the romantic 'heroine."'

In between Outlander novels, Gabaldon also writes historical mysteries featuring Lord John Grey, a popular, if minor, character from the series, and is working on a contemporary mystery series. Meanwhile, the author's formidable fan base keeps growing, as evidenced by the expanding list of Gabaldon chat rooms, mailing lists, fan clubs and web sites -- some of them complete with fetching photos of red-haired lads in kilts.

Good to Know

Outlander may have been Gabaldon's first novel, but she was already a published writer. Her credits included scholarly articles, political speeches, radio ads, computer manuals and Walt Disney comic books.

Gabaldon gets 30 to 40 e-mails a day from her fans, who often meet online to discuss her work. "I got one letter from a woman who had been studying my book jacket photos (with a magnifying glass, evidently), who demanded to know why there was a hole in my pants," wrote Gabaldon on her web site. "This strikes me as a highly metaphysical question, which I am not equipped to answer, but which will doubtless entertain some chat-groups for quite a long time."

From the Publisher

It began in Scotland, at an ancient stone circle. There, a doorway, open to a select few, leads into the past--or the grave. Claire Randall survived the extraordinary passage, not once buy twice. Her first trip swept her into the arms of Jamie Fraser, an eighteenth-century Scot whose love for her became legend--a tale of tragic passion that ended with her return to the present to bear his child. Her second journey, two decades later, brought them together again in frontier America. But Claire had left someone behind in the twentieth century. Their daughter Brianna...

Now, Brianna has made a disturbing discovery that sends her to the stone circle and a terrifying leap into the unknown. In search of her mother and the father she has never met, she is risking her own future to try to change history...and to save their lives. But as Brianna plunges into an uncharted wilderness, a heartbreaking encounter may strand her forever in the past...or root her in the place she should be, where her heart and soul belong...

Publishers Weekly

Gabaldon has few rivals in writing exciting-and hefty-historical romances. The fourth in a series of linked sagas (Outlander; Dragonfly in Amber; Voyager), her new epic has a delicious premise. Claire Randall, the post-WWII bride of historian Frank Randall, steps through a skew in the Scottish stone circle Craigh na Dun and lands in Revolutionary America and the arms of Highlander Jamie Fraser-putting a new spin on the notion of a two-timing woman. Bold and bawdy, but a believing Catholic, Claire struggles to live a rich and moral life-or, rather, rich and moral lives-under these extraordinary circumstances. Claire's adventures in 18th-century Charleston alternate with equally engaging chapters devoted to her 20th-century daughter, Brianna. Raised as Frank Randall's child, Bree discovers that Jamie Fraser is her real sire. She takes off on a harrowing, confrontational quest through time and space with her suitor, Roger Wakefield, in hot pursuit. Gabaldon's range is impressive, whether she's evoking the rawness of colonial America, the cozy clutter of a modern Scottish parsonage, the lusts of the body or the yearnings of the spirit. Her legion of fans will love diving into this ocean of romance.

Kirkus Reviews

A convoluted, long-winded tome from Gabaldon (Voyager, 1994, etc.), who brings back the Scottish rebel Jamie Fraser and Claire, a time-traveler from the 20th century and the love of his life, as they face the late 18th century with characteristic aplomb.

This time out, Jamie and Claire arrive in the US from Great Britain and are joined by Jamie's teenage nephew Ian. Although vividly drawn and well-developed, all three characters quickly become tangential; from the very first scene, set in Charleston in 1767, it is clear that the focus is to be not on them but on the "hot button" issues of the time: British/American tension, slavery, Indians, and impending war. There's a secondary storyline as well, which takes place in the late 20th century and involves Jamie and Claire's college-student daughter Brianna and her desperate attempts to find love in her present-day life while simultaneously striving to rejoin her mother—and Jamie, the father she has never known—in the past. Roger Wakefield, a Scottish student who helped Claire travel back in time in the previous books, is the object of Brianna's affection now; the fact that he knows about Brianna's parents' unusual situation allows him both to win her heart for eternity and also help her rejoin her loved ones, in very unusual fashion. Conflict between Claire's past and present lives is omnipresent; at various times she's forced to perform surgery (she was a doctor in 20th-century England), explain TV, and reminisce about life with the husband she had in modern times, pre- Jamie.

Ghost story, historical novel, fantasy, stock romance? In her attempt to be all things to all people, Gabaldon has created a 900- page monster with far too many components. Only for the author's most rabid fans.

Customer Reviews

Number of Reviews: 28
Average Rating:
Write a Review

Showing 1-5 Next

Weak Link
April, book devourer, 12/31/2007

The fourth in the Outlander series. Claire, a 20th century Englishwoman steps through a circle of stones and is transported 200 years back in time, where she falls in love with 18th century Scotsman, Jamie Fraser. Some reviewers comment that this is the weak link in the series. I agree. While Jamie and Claire fascinate me, and I cannot get enough of them, there were other characters who did not interest me at all. Overall, this is an excellent author.

Wow!
M.O., San Diego, CA, A reviewer, 12/20/2007

When recommended by the Barnes & Noble staff to read this series, I admit I was skeptical - all of the books each looked so thick. Wow! I'm now on the 4th book and I loved #1-#3. If you love romance, passion and history, you will love this series. I can't wait to read about Lord John Grey too. Enjoy your reading.

shocking
A reviewer, A reviewer, 07/26/2007

This novel has several shocking surprises, and it sure keeps you on your feet! I couldn't put it down, and of course, had to go and get the next one the same day. :)

YEAH!!!!
Emily C., A reviewer, 04/24/2007

I love this series

It keeps getting better
Ann Leahy, A reviewer, 03/02/2007

This is the second time I am reading through the series and I am up to Drums of Autumn. I recommend to the big fans of Diana to read this series again because even if you 'studied' it the first time through, there is so much you catch the next time.

Also recommended:�All the DG books...the Lord John Grey book (will there be more with that one??), I am a huge Jodi Piccoult and Anita Shrieve fan (probably being from New England). I have not found anyone comparable with Dianas works of art.

Showing 1-5 Next

Product Details

ISBN: 044022425X
ISBN-13: 9780440224259
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 1088pp
Publisher: Dell Publishing
Pub. Date: November 1997
Sales Rank: 1,744
Series: Outlander Series, #4

Table of Contents
Read an Excerpt

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The second portrait hung on the landing of the stairs, looking thoroughly out of place. From below Brianna could see the ornate gilded frame, its heavy carving quite at odds with the solid, battered comfort of the house's other furnishings. It reminded her of pictures in museums; this homely setting seemed incongruous.

As she followed Jenny onto the landing the glare of light from the window disappeared, leaving the painting's surface flat and clear before her.

She gasped, and felt the hair rise on her forearms, under the linen of her shirt.

"It's remarkable, aye?" Jenny looked from the painting to Brianna and back again, her own features marked with something between pride and awe.

"Remarkable!" Brianna agreed, swallowing.

"Ye see why we kent ye at once," her aunt went on, laying a loving hand against the carved frame.

"Yes. Yes, I can see that."

"It will be my mother, aye? Your grandmother, Ellen MacKenzie."

"Yes," Brianna said. "I know." Dust motes stirred up by their footsteps whirled lazily through the afternoon light from the window. Brianna felt rather as though she was whirling with them, no longer anchored to reality.

Two hundred years from now, she had — I will? she thought wildly — stood in front of this portrait in the National Portrait Gallery, furiously denying the truth that it showed.

Ellen MacKenzie looked out at her now as she had then; long-necked and regal, slanted eyes showing a humor that did not quite touch the tender mouth. It wasn't a mirror image, by any means; Ellen's forehead was high, narrower thanBrianna's, and the chin was round, not pointed, her whole face somewhat softer and less bold in its features.

But the resemblance was there, and pronounced enough to be startling; the wide cheekbones and lush red hair were the same. And around her neck was the string of pearls, gold roundels bright in the soft spring sun.

"Who painted it?" Brianna said at last, though she didn't need to hear the answer. The tag by the painting in the museum had given the artist as "Unknown." But having seen the portrait of the two little boys below, Brianna knew, all right. This picture was less skilled, an earlier effort — but the same hand had painted that hair and skin.

"My mother herself," Jenny was saying, her voice filled with a wistful pride. "She'd a great hand for drawing and painting. I often wished I had the gift."

Brianna felt her fingers curl unconsciously, the illusion of the brush between them momentarily so vivid she could have sworn she felt smooth wood.

That's where, she thought, with a small shiver, and heard an almost audible click! of recognition as a tiny piece of her past dropped into place. That's where I got it.

Frank Randall had joked that he couldn't draw a straight line; Claire that she drew nothing else. But Brianna had the gift of line and curve, of light and shadow — and now she had the source of the gift, as well.

What else? she thought suddenly. What else did she have that had once belonged to the woman in the picture, to the boy with the stubborn tilt to his head?

"Ned Gowan brought me this from Leoch," Jenny said, touching the frame with a certain reverence. "He saved it, when the English battered down the castle, after the Rising." She smiled faintly. "He's a great one for family, Ned is. He's a Lowlander from Edinburgh, wi' no kin of his own, but he's taken the MacKenzies for his clan — even now the clan's no more."

"No more?" Brianna blurted. "They're all dead?" The horror in her voice made Jenny glance at her, surprised.

"Och, no. I didna mean that, lass. But Leoch's gone," she added, in a softer tone. "And the last chiefs with it — Colum and his brother Dougal ... they died for the Stuarts."

She had known that, of course; Claire had told her. What was surprising was the sudden rush of an unexpected grief; regret for these strangers of her newfound blood. With an effort, she swallowed the thickening in her throat and turned to follow Jenny up the stairs.

"Was Leoch a great castle?" she asked. Her aunt paused, hand on the banister.

"I dinna ken," she said. Jenny glanced back at Ellen's picture, something like regret in her eyes.

"I never saw it — and now it's gone."

Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon

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Synopsis

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Biography

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Publishers Weekly

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Customer Reviews

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