Cross Stitch (Outlander - Diana Gabaldon)

Member Name: Kukana

Product:	Outlander - Diana Gabaldon
Date:	08/08/05 (1499 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very well-written, good characters, well-researched historical setting, well-paced

Disadvantages: A bit violent in places

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 subject.

It's clear from the first sentence that this book has a mystical side to it - a 'disappearance'. Indeed, the blurb on the back tells us that Clare is going to find herself in the middle of a skirmish in 1743, so the first few chapters are really setting the scene. I found myself gripped almost from the start: observing Clare in her natural surroundings, learning a little of the history of the place. I wondered what the significance was of her interest in herbalism, and whether something dramatic would happen at an ancient stone circle which she visits. When Clare is suddenly transported back 200 years in time, it takes her some time to realise what's happened, and even longer to accept it. At first she thinks she has somehow got caught up in the making of a historical film, so strong is her desire to think rationally. She finds herself totally disorientated, thought to be a prostitute because of her skimpy modern clothes, yet able to be useful with her understanding of modern medicine.

This happens just a few chapters into the book. I didn't know quite what to expect with a novel that evidently combined time travel with history, but I was impressed right from the beginning with the crisp writing style. I felt it was almost reminiscent of Susan Howatch in places - Diana Gabaldon moves the plot forward at exactly the right pace to hold my interest with minimal descriptions. I had a pretty good picture of Clare by the time she does her disappearing: a confident, intelligent, and also passionate young woman. These qualities become more evident as she is forced to adapt to her new circumstances, entirely at the mercy of the Scottish rebels into whose hands she falls.

Underlying the whole book is a deep and thrilling romance which manages to be moving without being trite, erotic without being cringeworthy. The historical surroundings are so well researched that I found Jacobite Scotland coming alive to me in a way I could never have imagined. I have never before managed to become engrossed in a novel where most of the characters were male, and much of the action involved fighting. But this book was gripping! For a week I managed to read just a chapter or two at bedtime... thereafter I was completely hooked and finished the remaining 500 or more pages (it's not a short book! There are over 850 pages in all) in just three days.

I wondered at one stage why the author bothered to start Clare off in the 20th century - why not simply set the novel in 1743? But gradually I realised that it's a very clever plot device: we see Jacobite Scotland from the point of view of someone we can relate to, whose values and ideals are similar to ours, but quite different from those in the society where she finds herself. She has to confront some quite difficult issues: not just corporal punishment, but severe and painful beating of children (and sometimes even wives!) as necessary discipline. She discovers why some women were considered to be witches and learns a great deal about mass hysteria and medical ignorance. No judgement is made: naturally I found myself seeing these issues from Clare's 20th century perspective at first. But when she begins to understand why these things happen, it enabled me to catch a glimpse myself of why such different values were held 200 years previously.

There's a fair amount of violence in the novel, and this is something which would normally put me off completely. But it managed to stay just the right side of goriness so that I was shocked but not quite sickened. There is considerable tension - inevitable given the circumstances of the book - but no real heart-stopping suspense. Even when Clare herself is in serious danger - more than once! - the fact that she relates the book reassured me that she at least would not be killed, no matter what else might happen to her. Some images remained with me for a few days after reading the book, but they soon faded; there was much to think about, but nothing to keep me awake at nights.

In addition, a little surprisingly, there's a fine thread of humour that relieves the tension every so often. I was particularly amused at scenes with small children asking innocent questions; there is also some light-hearted banter between adults who have learned to trust each other. I felt as if my mind and emotions were taken on a roller-coaster ride: at one moment horrified at the privations and violence of a society I have never known, yet a few pages later seeing the people as not so different from those I know in the 21st century: behaving the way they do because of their upbringing and circumstances, not because human nature itself has changed.

I would recommend this to almost everyone, whatever their tastes in literature. My only slight reservation would be that ultra-sensitive folk might find it upsetting; I don't think I would have liked it myself as a teenager. I doubt if a child would show much interest in such a lengthy novel but if they did, I wouldn't worry too much since much of the disturbing material is couched cleverly in language that implies rather than describing exactly what happens.

The Arrow paperback edition of the British title, 'Cross Stitch', ISBN 0099911701, is available from Amazon.co.uk at £6.39. The Delta paperback American edition is £7.21. There are various editions available from the Marketplace too, with prices varying from just over a pound up to over £50! Perhaps the best value, though, is to buy it from Play.com where the current price is £5.99, with postage free anywhere in Europe.

All in all, this is a superb book. There are four sequels, to date, and one more due to be published later this year.

Summary: An exciting historical novel with a slight time-travel twist