Outlander - Diana Gabaldon

I have a weakness for time-travel novels, less because of their sci-fi element and more because they allow for good and often funny social contrasting. A bit like the prince and the pauper scenario but across time rather than class boundaries. Strangely enough, a lot of these time-travel books are actually classified outside sci-fi genre, in fact some are even tentatively placed in the so-called mainstream. 'Cross-stitch' (as the British edition of 'Outlander' is titled) is, however, a definite genre book, the genre in question being a historical romance and 'Cross-stitch' being a bodice-ripper extraordinaire, first part of five-part series and at over 800 ...  Read the complete review

This novel, 'Outlander' in its original American version, was re-titled 'Cross Stitch' when imported to the UK. But it's not, as I half-expected, a book about sewing. Not at all... The story begins just outside Inverness in 1946. Clare and Frank were married shortly before the war, then parted for the duration; Clare worked as a nurse. Now they are back together again and taking a short holiday. Frank is an intellectual type who is fascinated by Scottish history and researching his family tree. Clare (who narrates the entire book) loves him and enjoys his company but finds him amusingly tedious when he starts lecturing on his favourite ...  Read the complete review

To make things simpler, I've decided to write about all five (so far) of Diana Gabaldon's books together. This being the case, there's a slim possibility that this opinion will contain small spoilers for the later books, though I'll try to keep them vague! This opinion has turned out to be pretty long in the end, but it is my first one, so please don't be too harsh! This series begins with 'Cross Stitch' (published as 'Outlander' in the US,) and is the story of Claire, a young woman on holiday with her husband in Scotland in 1945. While exploring a stone circle, she steps through a cleft in one of the stones, and finds ...  Read the complete review

Yes, this book is indeed the best book I've ever read - and I have read Tolstoy's 'War and Peace', studied Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Albert Camus and Charles Dickens. You may think it is rather cheeky of me to compare what might be considered a popular modern-day author with such famous, long-dead classic writers - but Diana Gabaldon deserves to be spoken of in the same breath. Outlander (known as 'Cross Stitch' in the UK) is a huge book, over a thousand pages and at first, it looks quite daunting. But a few hundred pages in, you will be wishing it was longer and the magic could continue. You will therefore be pleased ...  Read the complete review