Outlander Review (Outlander #1)

Claire married her husband Frank at the age of 20, but then she left to be an army nurse for 7 years during WWII. She and him are now, finally, reunited for their eighth year of marriage, and are attempting to have children. However, as her husband mentions in passing conversation, 7 years is a long time. Claire was loyal to their marriage, resisting the urge to have meaningless flings as the other nurses and doctors did. however, with that comment, she begins to wonder how faithful her husband was.

Frank and Claire go to see the town’s “witches” do a secret ritual in a stone circle. Claire does not believe in witchcraft, but when she brushes the stones a few days later, she time travels back to the year 1743. The Scots are at war with the English, and she lands right in the middle of the Scottish Army. Because of her British accent, they believe that she is a British spy. In order to protect herself, she marries a soldier named Jamie, and traverses the savage lands of colonial Scotland.

This book is amazing. If you haven’t read if, and are 16 ish and above, read this book. The only reason I wouldn’t recommend this book to young high schoolers is due to the violence, goriness, and detailed sexual scenes that lie within these pages. If you aren’t fainthearted, read on!

Claire and Jamie seem to come to life through these pages. I love historical fiction because it puts a face to the meaningless reports of wars. If 9/11 was described as simply a building falling down, no one would care about it. This is how, in my opinion, history books describe much of history. The Civil War, where over 1 million people died, is not even learned about for 3 weeks in history class. But even though this book is not based factually, it is a very interesting story about what it could have been like to live in early Scotland.

I cannot possibly put everything about this book into one review, as I felt as if I had spend the time that I would usually take reading 3 different stories reading this 1, but I can only urge you to experience this for yourself.

Overall Rating: 6 out of 5 books.