戴安娜·加瓦爾東（Diana Gabaldon）：

美國作傢，北亞利桑那大學海洋生態學博士與榮譽人文學博士，曾在大學教授解剖學，還是多本科技、電腦期刊的撰稿人、評論員。1988年，黛安娜·加瓦爾東為瞭“練習”而開始寫小說，不料一寫就寫齣瞭風靡全球的Outlander係列。她學識淵博，感情細膩，又具有大膽的想象力和幽默感，而這些特質正是Outlander魅力的來源。

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Book Description

Claire Randall is leading a double life. She has a husband in one century, and a lover in another...

In 1945, Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon--when she innocently touches a boulder in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an "outlander"—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of our Lord...1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire's destiny in soon inextricably intertwined with Clan MacKenzie and the forbidden Castle Leoch. She is catapulted without warning into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life ...and shatter her heart. For here, James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a passion so fierce and a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire...and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

Amazon.com

In Outlander , a 600-page time-travel romance, strong-willed and sensual Claire Randall leads a double life with a husband in one century, and a lover in another. Torn between fidelity and desire, she struggles to understand the pure intent of her heart. But don't let the number of pages and the Scottish dialect scare you. It's one of the fastest reads you'll have in your library.

While on her second honeymoon in the British Isles, Claire touches a boulder that hurls her back in time to the forbidden Castle Leoch with the MacKenzie clan. Not understanding the forces that brought her there, she becomes ensnared in life-threatening situations with a Scots warrior named James Fraser. But it isn't all spies and drudgery that she must endure. For amid her new surroundings and the terrors she faces, she is lured into love and passion like she's never known before.

I was lame and sore in every muscle when I woke next morning. I shuffled to the privy closet, then to the wash basin. My innards felt like churned butter. It felt as though I had been beaten with a blunt object, I reflected, then thought that that was very near the truth. The blunt object in question was visible as I came back to bed, looking now relatively harmless. Its possessor [Jamie] woke as I sat next to him, and examined me with something that looked very much like male smugness."

Gabaldon creates characters that you'll remember, laugh with, cry with, and cheer for long after you've finished the book.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　--Candy Paape

From Publishers Weekly

Time-traveler Claire Randall returns to 18th-century Scotland in this compulsively readable sequel to Outlander.

From Library Journal

After being separated by seven years of World War II, Claire and Frank Randall return to the Scottish Highlands for a second honeymoon. Left to her own devices while her husband immerses himself in historical pursuits, Claire inadvertently enters a circle of standing stones and is plunged back 200 years to a Scotland on the verge of the second Jacobite uprising. Her pluck and skill as a nurse win the Scots' grudging respect, but only marriage to a Scot will save her from the clutches of Frank's vicious forbear, Black Jack Randall. Though first novelist Gabaldon uses time travel primarily to allow a modern heroine, this is basically a richly textured historical novel with an unusual and compelling love story. The author, an assistant professor of research in environmental studies, was encouraged to publish by fellow users of CompuServe and has two more books contracted. If these fulfill the promise of the first, they should win a devoted audience. Literary Guild alternate; Doubleday Book Club main selection.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　- Cynthia Johnson Whealler, Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, Mass.

From Kirkus Reviews

Once-in-a-lifetime romantic passion and graphically depicted torture sessions are only the two extremes of this lively time- travel romance set in 18th-century Scotland--an imaginative and lighthearted debut by a promising newcomer. World War II has finally ended and Claire Beauchamp Randall, a British Red Cross nurse, has gone off to Scotland with her historian husband, Frank, to try to resume their married life where it left off six years before. Their diligent attempts to make a baby come to a halt, however, when Claire discovers an ancient stone circle on a nearby hilltop, slips between two mysterious- looking boulders, and is transported willy-nilly to the year 1743. Stumbling down the hillside, disoriented and confused, Claire is discovered by Jonathan ``Black Jack'' Randall, an evil English officer who happens to be her husband's direct ancestor and physical look-alike. Randall notes Claire's revealing 1940's summer dress, assumes she is a whore, and attempts to rape her, whereupon she is rescued by the fierce MacKenzie clan, who take her to their castle and confine her there. Claire adjusts to her changed circumstances with amazing ease, using her nursing experience to tend to her hosts' illnesses while she impatiently awaits a chance to return to the circle of stones. Before she can get away, circumstances force her into a marriage with James Frazer, a Scottish renegade from English justice and Jonathan Randall's archenemy. Young Jamie's good looks, passion, and virility soon redirect Claire's energies to defending her stalwart new husband against her former mate's evil clone, and the fierce, courageous but historically doomed Scottish clans against the course of destiny itself. A satisfying treat, with extra scoops of excitement and romance that make up for certain lapses in credibility.

From AudioFile

Gabaldon's genre-crossing classic of romance, fantasy, and historical fiction tells the story of Jamie and Claire, lovers from different centuries caught in the bloodshed of the Scots' struggle to be free of the English. It achieves a new dimension in the audio format. Davina Porter maintains the distinct voices she creates for each character throughout the lengthy narration. Her delivery of eighteenth-century language sounds authentic and is easily understandable. The hot sex and graphic violence, integral to the story, are far more vivid on tape than they are on paper. D.T.H.

Book Dimension :

length: (cm)17.5 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 width:(cm)11.3