Written in My Own Heart's Blood: A Novel (Outlander), by Diana Gabaldon
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Written in My Own Heart's Blood: A Novel (Outlander), by Diana Gabaldon
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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BOOKLISTIn her now classic novel Outlander, Diana Gabaldon told the story of Claire Randall, an English ex-combat nurse who walks through a stone circle in the Scottish Highlands in 1946, and disappears . . . into 1743. The story unfolded from there in seven bestselling novels, and CNN has called it “a grand adventure written on a canvas that probes the heart, weighs the soul and measures the human spirit across [centuries].” Now the story continues in Written in My Own Heart’s Blood. 1778: France declares war on Great Britain, the British army leaves Philadelphia, and George Washington’s troops leave Valley Forge in pursuit. At this moment, Jamie Fraser returns from a presumed watery grave to discover that his best friend has married his wife, his illegitimate son has discovered (to his horror) who his father really is, and his beloved nephew, Ian, wants to marry a Quaker. Meanwhile, Jamie’s wife, Claire, and his sister, Jenny, are busy picking up the pieces. The Frasers can only be thankful that their daughter Brianna and her family are safe in twentieth-century Scotland. Or not. In fact, Brianna is searching for her own son, who was kidnapped by a man determined to learn her family’s secrets. Her husband, Roger, has ventured into the past in search of the missing boy . . . never suspecting that the object of his quest has not left the present. Now, with Roger out of the way, the kidnapper can focus on his true target: Brianna herself. Written in My Own Heart’s Blood is the brilliant next chapter in a masterpiece of the imagination unlike any other.Praise for Written in My Own Heart’s Blood “[Written in My Own Heart’s Blood] features all the passion and swashbuckling that fans of this historical fantasy series have come to expect.”—People “Another breakneck, rip-roaring, oh-so-addictive page-turner from Gabaldon . . . Take a deep breath, jump aboard, and enjoy the ride.”—Library Journal“With her Outlander series, Gabaldon . . . successfully [juggles] a sizable and captivating cast of characters; developing thrilling plotlines that borrow equally from adventure, history, and romance; and meticulously integrating a wealth of fascinating period details into the story without slowing down the pace. The result is a sprawling and enthralling saga that is guaranteed to keep readers up long past their bedtimes.”—Booklist (starred review)From the Hardcover edition.
Written in My Own Heart's Blood: A Novel (Outlander), by Diana Gabaldon - Amazon Sales Rank: #5269 in Books
- Brand: Gabaldon, Diana
- Published on: 2015-06-02
- Released on: 2015-06-02
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.20" h x 1.70" w x 6.10" l, 1.81 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 825 pages
Written in My Own Heart's Blood: A Novel (Outlander), by Diana Gabaldon Review “[Written in My Own Heart’s Blood] features all the passion and swashbuckling that fans of this historical fantasy series have come to expect.”—People “Another breakneck, rip-roaring, oh-so-addictive page-turner from Gabaldon . . . Take a deep breath, jump aboard, and enjoy the ride.”—Library Journal“With her Outlander series, [Diana] Gabaldon . . . successfully [juggles] a sizable and captivating cast of characters; developing thrilling plotlines that borrow equally from adventure, history, and romance; and meticulously integrating a wealth of fascinating period details into the story without slowing down the pace. The result is a sprawling and enthralling saga that is guaranteed to keep readers up long past their bedtimes.”—Booklist (starred review)
About the Author Diana Gabaldon is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the wildly popular Outlander novels—Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross, A Breath of Snow and Ashes (for which she won a Quill Award and the Corine International Book Prize), An Echo in the Bone, and Written in My Own Heart’s Blood—as well as the related Lord John Grey books Lord John and the Private Matter, Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade, Lord John and the Hand of Devils, and The Scottish Prisoner; two works of nonfiction, The Outlandish Companion, Volumes 1 and 2; the Outlander graphic novel The Exile; and The Official Outlander Coloring Book. She lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, with her husband.From the Hardcover edition.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
1
A Hundredweight of Stones
June 16, 1778
The forest between Philadelphia and Valley Forge
I
an Murray stood with a stone in his hand, eyeing the ground he’d chosen. A small clearing, out of the way, up among a scatter of great lichened boulders, under the shadow of firs and at the foot of a big red cedar; a place where no casual passerby would go, but not inaccessible. He meant to bring them up here—the family.
Fergus, to begin with. Maybe just Fergus, by himself. Mam had raised Fergus from the time he was ten, and he’d had no mother before that. Fergus had known Mam longer than Ian had, and loved her as much. Maybe more, he thought, his grief aggravated by guilt. Fergus had stayed with her at Lallybroch, helped to take care of her and the place; he hadn’t. He swallowed hard and, walking into the small clear space, set his stone in the middle, then stood back to look.
Even as he did so, he found himself shaking his head. No, it had to be two cairns. His mam and Uncle Jamie were brother and sister, and the family could mourn them here together—but there were others he might bring, maybe, to remember and pay their respects. And those were the folk who would have known Jamie Fraser and loved him well but wouldn’t ken Jenny Murray from a hole in the—
The image of his mother in a hole in the ground stabbed him like a fork, retreated with the recollection that she wasn’t after all in a grave, and stabbed again all the harder for that. He really couldn’t bear the vision of them drowning, maybe clinging to each other, struggling to keep—
“A Dhia!” he said violently, and dropped the stone, turning back at once to find more. He’d seen people drown.
Tears ran down his face with the sweat of the summer day; he didn’t mind it, only stopping now and then to wipe his nose on his sleeve. He’d tied a rolled kerchief round his head to keep the hair and the stinging sweat out of his eyes; it was sopping before he’d added more than twenty stones to each of the cairns.
He and his brothers had built a fine cairn for their father before he died, at the head of the carved stone that bore his name—all his names, in spite of the expense—in the burying ground at Lallybroch. And then later, at the funeral, members of the family, followed by the tenants and then the servants, had come one by one to add a stone each to the weight of remembrance.
Fergus, then. Or . . . no, what was he thinking? Auntie Claire must be the first he brought here. She wasn’t Scots herself, but she kent fine what a cairn was and would maybe be comforted a bit to see Uncle Jamie’s. Aye, right. Auntie Claire, then Fergus. Uncle Jamie was Fergus’s foster father; he had a right. And then maybe Marsali and the children. But maybe Germain was old enough to come with Fergus? He was ten, near enough to being a man to understand, to be treated like a man. And Uncle Jamie was his grandsire; it was proper.
He stepped back again and wiped his face, breathing heavily. Bugs whined and buzzed past his ears and hovered over him, wanting his blood, but he’d stripped to a loincloth and rubbed himself with bear grease and mint in the Mohawk way; they didn’t touch him.
“Look over them, O spirit of red cedar,” he said softly in Mohawk, gazing up into the fragrant branches of the tree. “Guard their souls and keep their presence here, fresh as thy branches.”
He crossed himself and bent to dig about in the soft leaf mold. A few more rocks, he thought. In case they might be scattered by some passing animal. Scattered like his thoughts, which roamed restless to and fro among the faces of his family, the folk of the Ridge—God, might he ever go back there? Brianna. Oh, Jesus, Brianna . . .
He bit his lip and tasted salt, licked it away and moved on, foraging. She was safe with Roger Mac and the weans. But, Jesus, he could have used her advice—even more, Roger Mac’s.
Who was left for him to ask, if he needed help in taking care of them all?
Thought of Rachel came to him, and the tightness in his chest eased a little. Aye, if he had Rachel . . . She was younger than him, nay more than nineteen, and, being a Quaker, had very strange notions of how things should be, but if he had her, he’d have solid rock under his feet. He hoped he would have her, but there were still things he must say to her, and the thought of that conversation made the tightness in his chest come back.
The picture of his cousin Brianna came back, too, and lingered in his mind: tall, long-nosed and strong-boned as her father . . . and with it rose the image of his other cousin, Bree’s half brother. Holy God, William. And what ought he to do about William? He doubted the man kent the truth, kent that he was Jamie Fraser’s son—was it Ian’s responsibility to tell him so? To bring him here and explain what he’d lost?
He must have groaned at the thought, for his dog, Rollo, lifted his massive head and looked at him in concern.
“No, I dinna ken that, either,” Ian told him. “Let it bide, aye?” Rollo laid his head back on his paws, shivered his shaggy hide against the flies, and relaxed in boneless peace.
Ian worked awhile longer and let the thoughts drain away with his sweat and his tears. He finally stopped when the sinking sun touched the tops of his cairns, feeling tired but more at peace. The cairns rose knee-high, side by side, small but solid.
He stood still for a bit, not thinking anymore, just listening to the fussing of wee birds in the grass and the breathing of the wind among the trees. Then he sighed deeply, squatted, and touched one of the cairns.
“Tha gaol agam oirbh, a Mhàthair,” he said softly. My love is upon you, Mother. Closed his eyes and laid a scuffed hand on the other heap of stones. The dirt ground into his skin made his fingers feel strange, as though he could maybe reach straight through the earth and touch what he needed.
He stayed still, breathing, then opened his eyes.
“Help me wi’ this, Uncle Jamie,” he said. “I dinna think I can manage, alone.”
2
Dirty Bastard
W
illiam Ransom, Ninth Earl of Ellesmere, Viscount Ashness, Baron Derwent, shoved his way through the crowds on Market Street, oblivious to the complaints of those rebounding from his impact.
He didn’t know where he was going, or what he might do when he got there. All he knew was that he’d burst if he stood still.
His head throbbed like an inflamed boil. Everything throbbed. His hand—he’d probably broken something, but he didn’t care. His heart, pounding and sore inside his chest. His foot, for God’s sake—what, had he kicked something? He lashed out viciously at a loose cobblestone and sent it rocketing through a crowd of geese, who set up a huge cackle and lunged at him, hissing and beating at his shins with their wings.
Feathers and goose shit flew wide, and the crowd scattered in all directions.
“Bastard!” shrieked the goose-girl, and struck at him with her crook, catching him a shrewd thump on the ear. “Devil take you, dreckiger Bastard!”
This sentiment was echoed by a number of other angry voices, and he veered into an alley, pursued by shouts and honks of agitation.
He rubbed his throbbing ear, lurching into buildings as he passed, oblivious to everything but the one word throbbing ever louder in his head. Bastard.
“Bastard!” he said out loud, and shouted, “Bastard, bastard, bastard!” at the top of his lungs, hammering at the brick wall next to him with a clenched fist.
“Who’s a bastard?” said a curious voice behind him. He swung round to see a young woman looking at him with some interest. Her eyes moved slowly down his frame, taking note of the heaving chest, the bloodstains on the facings of his uniform coat, and the green smears of goose shit on his breeches. Her gaze reached his silver-buckled shoes and returned to his face with more interest.
“I am,” he said, hoarse and bitter.
“Oh, really?” She left the shelter of the doorway in which she’d been lingering and came across the alley to stand right in front of him. She was tall and slim and had a very fine pair of high young breasts—which were clearly visible under the thin muslin of her shift, because, while she had a silk petticoat, she wore no stays. No cap, either—her hair fell loose over her shoulders. A whore.
“I’m partial to bastards myself,” she said, and touched him lightly on the arm. “What kind of bastard are you? A wicked one? An evil one?”
“A sorry one,” he said, and scowled when she laughed. She saw the scowl but didn’t pull back.
“Come in,” she said, and took his hand. “You look as though you could do with a drink.” He saw her glance at his knuckles, burst and bleeding, and she caught her lower lip behind small white teeth. She didn’t seem afraid, though, and he found himself drawn, unprotesting, into the shadowed doorway after her.
What did it matter? he thought, with a sudden savage weariness. What did anything matter?
3
In Which the Women, As Usual, Pick Up the Pieces
Number 17 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia
The residence of Lord and Lady John Grey
W
illiam had left the house like a thunderclap, and the place looked as though it had been struck by lightning. I certainly felt like the survivor of a massive electrical storm, hairs and nerve endings all standing up straight on end, waving in agitation.
Jenny Murray had entered the house on the heels of William’s departure, and while the sight of her was a lesser shock than any of the others so far, it still left me speechless. I goggled at my erstwhile sister-in-law—though, come to think, she still was my sister-in-law . . . because Jamie was alive. Alive.
He’d been in my arms not ten minutes before, and the memory of his touch flickered through me like lightning in a bottle. I was dimly aware that I was smiling like a loon, despite massive destruction, horrific scenes, William’s distress—if you could call an explosion like that “distress”—Jamie’s danger, and a faint wonder as to what either Jenny or Mrs. Figg, Lord John’s cook and housekeeper, might be about to say.
Mrs. Figg was smoothly spherical, gleamingly black, and inclined to glide silently up behind one like a menacing ball bearing.
“What’s this?” she barked, manifesting herself suddenly behind Jenny.
“Holy Mother of God!” Jenny whirled, eyes round and hand pressed to her chest. “Who in God’s name are you?”
“This is Mrs. Figg,” I said, feeling a surreal urge to laugh, despite—or maybe because of—recent events. “Lord John Grey’s cook. And, Mrs. Figg, this is Mrs. Murray. My, um . . . my . . .”
“Your good-sister,” Jenny said firmly. She raised one black eyebrow. “If ye’ll have me still?” Her look was straight and open, and the urge to laugh changed abruptly into an equally strong urge to burst into tears. Of all the unlikely sources of succor I could have imagined . . . I took a deep breath and put out my hand.
“I’ll have you.” We hadn’t parted on good terms in Scotland, but I had loved her very much, once, and wasn’t about to pass up any opportunity to mend things.
Her small firm fingers wove through mine, squeezed hard, and, as simply as that, it was done. No need for apologies or spoken forgiveness. She’d never had to wear the mask that Jamie did. What she thought and felt was there in her eyes, those slanted blue cat eyes she shared with her brother. She knew the truth now of what I was, and she knew I loved—and always had loved—her brother with all my heart and soul—despite the minor complications of my being presently married to someone else.
She heaved a sigh, eyes closing for an instant, then opened them and smiled at me, mouth trembling only a little.
“Well, fine and dandy,” said Mrs. Figg shortly. She narrowed her eyes and rotated smoothly on her axis, taking in the panorama of destruction. The railing at the top of the stair had been ripped off, and cracked banisters, dented walls, and bloody smudges marked the path of William’s descent. Shattered crystals from the chandelier littered the floor, glinting festively in the light that poured through the open front door, the door itself cracked through and hanging drunkenly from one hinge.
“Merde on toast,” Mrs. Figg murmured. She turned abruptly to me, her small black-currant eyes still narrowed. “Where’s his lordship?”
“Ah,” I said. This was going to be rather sticky, I saw. While deeply disapproving of most people, Mrs. Figg was devoted to John. She wasn’t going to be at all pleased to hear that he’d been abducted by—
“For that matter, where’s my brother?” Jenny inquired, glancing round as though expecting Jamie to appear suddenly out from under the settee.
“Oh,” I said. “Hmm. Well . . .” Possibly worse than sticky. Because . . .
“And where’s my Sweet William?” Mrs. Figg demanded, sniffing the air. “He’s been here; I smell that stinky cologne he puts on his linen.” She nudged a dislodged chunk of plaster disapprovingly with the toe of her shoe.
I took another long, deep breath and a tight grip on what remained of my sanity.
“Mrs. Figg,” I said, “perhaps you would be so kind as to make us all a cup of tea?”
We sat in the parlor, while Mrs. Figg came and went to the cookhouse, keeping an eye on her terrapin stew.
“You don’t want to scorch turtle, no, you don’t,” she said severely to us, setting down the teapot in its padded yellow cozy on her return. “Not with so much sherry as his lordship likes in it. Almost a full bottle—terrible waste of good liquor, that would be.”
My insides turned over promptly. Turtle soup—with a lot of sherry—had certain strong and private associations for me, these being connected with Jamie, feverish delirium, and the way in which a heaving ship assists sexual intercourse. Contemplation of which would not assist the impending discussion in the slightest. I rubbed a finger between my brows, in hopes of dispelling the buzzing cloud of confusion gathering there. The air in the house still felt electric.
“Speaking of sherry,” I said, “or any other sort of strong spirits you might have convenient, Mrs. Figg . . .”
She looked thoughtfully at me, nodded, and reached for the decanter on the sideboard.
“Brandy is stronger,” she said, and set it in front of me.
Jenny looked at me with the same thoughtfulness and, reaching out, poured a good-sized slug of the brandy into my cup, then a similar one into her own.
“Just in case,” she said, raising one brow, and we drank for a few moments. I thought it might take something stronger than brandy-laced tea to deal with the effect of recent events on my nerves—laudanum, say, or a large slug of straight Scotch whisky—but the tea undeniably helped, hot and aromatic, settling in a soft trickling warmth amidships.
“So, then. We’re fettled, are we?” Jenny set down her own cup and looked expectant.
“It’s a start.” I took a deep breath and gave her a précis of the morning’s events.
Jenny’s eyes were disturbingly like Jamie’s. She blinked at me once, then twice, and shook her head as though to clear it, accepting what I’d just told her.
“So Jamie’s gone off wi’ your Lord John, the British army is after them, the tall lad I met on the stoop wi’ steam comin’ out of his ears is Jamie’s son—well, of course he is; a blind man could see that—and the town’s aboil wi’ British soldiers. Is that it, then?”
“He’s not exactly my Lord John,” I said. “But, yes, that’s essentially the position. I take it Jamie told you about William, then?”
“Aye, he did.” She grinned at me over the rim of her teacup. “I’m that happy for him. But what’s troubling his lad, then? He looked like he wouldna give the road to a bear.”
“What did you say?” Mrs. Figg’s voice cut in abruptly. She set down the tray she had just brought in, the silver milk jug and sugar basin rattling like castanets. “William is whose son?”
I took a fortifying gulp of tea. Mrs. Figg did know that I’d been married to—and theoretically widowed from—one James Fraser. But that was all she knew.
“Well,” I said, and paused to clear my throat. “The, um, tall gentleman with the red hair who was just here—you saw him?”
“I did.” Mrs. Figg eyed me narrowly.
“Did you get a good look at him?”
“Didn’t pay much heed to his face when he came to the door and asked where you were, but I saw his backside pretty plain when he pushed past me and ran up the stairs.”
“Possibly the resemblance is less marked from that angle.” I took another mouthful of tea. “Um . . . that gentleman is James Fraser, my . . . er . . . my—” “First husband” wasn’t accurate, and neither was “last husband”—or even, unfortunately, “most recent husband.” I settled for the simplest alternative. “My husband. And, er . . . William’s father.”
Mrs. Figg’s mouth opened, soundless for an instant. She backed up slowly and sat down on a needlework ottoman with a soft phumph.
“William know that?” she asked, after a moment’s contemplation.
“He does now,” I said, with a brief gesture toward the devastation in the stairwell, clearly visible through the door of the parlor where we were sitting.
“Merde on— I mean, Holy Lamb of God preserve us.” Mrs. Figg’s second husband was a Methodist preacher, and she strove to be a credit to him, but her first had been a French gambler. Her eyes fixed on me like gun sights.
“You his mother?”
I choked on my tea.
“No,” I said, wiping my chin with a linen napkin. “It isn’t quite that complicated.” In fact, it was more so, but I wasn’t going to explain just how Willie had come about, either to Mrs. Figg or to Jenny. Jamie had to have told Jenny who William’s mother was, but I doubted that he’d told his sister that William’s mother, Geneva Dunsany, had forced him into her bed by threatening Jenny’s family. No man of spirit likes to admit that he’s been effectively blackmailed by an eighteen-year-old girl.
“Lord John became William’s legal guardian when William’s grandfather died, and at that point, Lord John also married Lady Isobel Dunsany, Willie’s mother’s sister. She’d looked after Willie since his mother’s death in childbirth, and she and Lord John were essentially Willie’s parents since he was quite young. Isobel died when he was eleven or so.”
Mrs. Figg took this explanation in stride but wasn’t about to be distracted from the main point at issue.
“James Fraser,” she said, tapping a couple of broad fingers on her knee and looking accusingly at Jenny. “How comes he not to be dead? News was he drowned.” She cut her eyes at me. “I thought his lordship was like to throw himself in the harbor, too, when he heard it.”
I closed my own eyes with a sudden shudder, the salt-cold horror of that news washing over me in a wave of memory. Even with Jamie’s touch still joyful on my skin and the knowledge of him glowing in my heart, I relived the crushing pain of hearing that he was dead.
“Well, I can enlighten ye on that point, at least.”
I opened my eyes to see Jenny drop a lump of sugar into her fresh tea and nod at Mrs. Figg. “We were to take passage on a ship called Euterpe—my brother and myself—out o’ Brest. But the blackhearted thief of a captain sailed without us. Much good it did him,” she added, frowning.
Much good, indeed. The Euterpe had sunk in a storm in the Atlantic, lost with all hands. As I—and John Grey—had been told.
“Jamie found us another ship, but it landed us in Virginia, and we’d to make our way up the coast, partly by wagon, partly by packet boat, keepin’ out of the way of the soldiers. Those wee needles ye gave Jamie against the seasickness work a marvel,” she added, turning approvingly to me. “He showed me how to put them in for him. But when we came to Philadelphia yesterday,” she went on, returning to her tale, “we stole into the city by night, like a pair o’ thieves, and made our way to Fergus’s printshop. Lord, I thought my heart would stop a dozen times!”
She smiled at the memory, and I was struck by the change in her. The shadow of sorrow still lay on her face, and she was thin and worn by travel, but the terrible strain of her husband Ian’s long dying had lifted. There was color in her cheeks again and a brightness in her eyes that I had not seen since I had first known her thirty years before. She had found her peace, I thought, and felt a thankfulness that eased my own soul.
“. . . so Jamie taps on the door at the back, and there’s no answer, though we can see the light of a fire comin’ through the shutters. He knocks again, makin’ a wee tune of it—” She rapped her knuckles lightly on the table, bump-ba-da-bump-ba-da-bump-bump-bump, and my heart turned over, recognizing the theme from The Lone Ranger, which Brianna had taught him.
“And after a moment,” Jenny went on, “a woman’s voice calls out fierce, ‘Who’s there?’ And Jamie says in the Gàidhlig, ‘It is your father, my daughter, and a cold, wet, and hungry man he is, too.’ For it was rainin’ hammer handles and pitchforks, and we were both soaked to the skin.”
She rocked back a little, enjoying the telling.
“The door opens then, just a crack, and there’s Marsali wi’ a horse pistol in her hand, and her two wee lasses behind her, fierce as archangels, each with a billet of wood, ready to crack a thief across his shins. They see the firelight shine on Jamie’s face then, and all three of them let out skellochs like to wake the dead and fall upon him and drag him inside and all talkin’ at once and greetin’, askin’ was he a ghost and why was he not drowned, and that was the first we learned that the Euterpe had sunk.” She crossed herself. “God rest them, poor souls,” she said, shaking her head.
I crossed myself, too, and saw Mrs. Figg look sideways at me; she hadn’t realized I was a Papist.
“I’ve come in, too, of course,” Jenny went on, “but everyone’s talkin’ at once and rushin’ to and fro in search of dry clothes and hot drinks and I’m just lookin’ about the place, for I’ve never been inside a printshop before, and the smell of the ink and the paper and lead is a wonder to me, and, sudden-like, there’s a tug at my skirt and this sweet-faced wee mannie says to me, ‘And who are you, madame? Would you like some cider?’ ”
“Henri-Christian,” I murmured, smiling at the thought of Marsali’s youngest, and Jenny nodded.
“ ‘Why, I’m your grannie Janet, son,’ says I, and his eyes go round, and he lets out a shriek and grabs me round the legs and gives me such a hug as to make me lose my balance and fall down on the settle. I’ve a bruise on my bum the size of your hand,” she added out of the corner of her mouth to me.
I felt a small knot of tension that I hadn’t realized was there relax. Jenny did of course know that Henri-Christian had been born a dwarf—but knowing and seeing are sometimes different things. Clearly they hadn’t been, for Jenny.
Mrs. Figg had been following this account with interest, but maintained her reserve. At mention of the printshop, though, this reserve hardened a bit.
“These folk—Marsali is your daughter, then, ma’am?” I could tell what she was thinking. The entire town of Philadelphia knew that Jamie was a Rebel—and, by extension, so was I. It was the threat of my imminent arrest that had caused John to insist upon my marrying him in the wake of the tumult following Jamie’s presumed death. The mention of printing in British-occupied Philadelphia was bound to raise questions as to just what was being printed, and by whom.
“No, her husband is my brother’s adopted son,” Jenny explained. “But I raised Fergus from a wee lad myself, so he’s my foster son, as well, by the Highland way of reckoning.”
Mrs. Figg blinked. She had been gamely trying to keep the cast of characters in some sort of order to this point, but now gave it up with a shake of her head that made the pink ribbons on her cap wave like antennae.
“Well, where the devil—I mean, where on earth has your brother gone with his lordship?” she demanded. “To this printshop, you think?”
Jenny and I exchanged glances.
“I doubt it,” I said. “More likely he’s gone outside the city, using John—er, his lordship, I mean—as a hostage to get past the pickets, if necessary. Probably he’ll let him go as soon as they’re far enough away for safety.”
Mrs. Figg made a deep humming noise of disapproval.
“And maybe he’ll make for Valley Forge and turn him over to the Rebels instead.”
“Oh, I shouldna think so,” Jenny said soothingly. “What would they want with him, after all?”
Mrs. Figg blinked again, taken aback at the notion that anyone might not value his lordship to the same degree that she did, but after a moment’s lip-pursing allowed as this might be so.
“He wasn’t in his uniform, was he, ma’am?” she asked me, brow furrowed. I shook my head. John didn’t hold an active commission. He was a diplomat, though technically still lieutenant colonel of his brother’s regiment, and therefore wore his uniform for purposes of ceremony or intimidation, but he was officially retired from the army, not a combatant, and in plain clothes he would be taken as citizen rather than soldier—thus of no particular interest to General Washington’s troops at Valley Forge.
I didn’t think Jamie was headed for Valley Forge in any case. I knew, with absolute certainty, that he would come back. Here. For me.
The thought bloomed low in my belly and spread upward in a wave of warmth that made me bury my nose in my teacup to hide the resulting flush.
Alive. I caressed the word, cradling it in the center of my heart. Jamie was alive. Glad as I was to see Jenny—and gladder still to see her extend an olive branch in my direction— I really wanted to go up to my room, close the door, and lean against the wall with my eyes shut tight, reliving the seconds after he’d entered the room, when he’d taken me in his arms and pressed me to the wall, kissing me, the simple, solid, warm fact of his presence so overwhelming that I might have collapsed onto the floor without that wall’s support.
Alive, I repeated silently to myself. He’s alive.
Nothing else mattered. Though I did wonder briefly what he’d done with John.
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795 of 854 people found the following review helpful. The eighth book in a series that doesn't appear to be wrapping up anytime soon. By Alpha Reader **** I received an advance review copy of the book from the publisher ******* No MOBY Spoilers. I promise. But there are spoilers of other books in the Outlander series! ***When we left these characters after `An Echo in the Bone', way back in 2009 (and 1980, and 1778, respectively) the Fraser clan were spread far and wide and swimming in various levels of hot water.Believing Jamie to be dead and lost at sea, along with his sister Jenny, Claire married Lord John Grey after rumblings in the British Army had her targeted for arrest on account of being a spy. Not, in fact, being dead and lost Jamie returned to find Claire at Lord John's house in Philadelphia where he was at once confronted with the fact that his wife was married to his dear friend, and his son William (Ninth Earl of Ellesmere) was confronted with the world's worst kept secret - that he is in fact the illegitimate son of James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser - a rebel Highlander.Elsewhere in 1778 - young Ian, Jamie's turned-Mohawk nephew was laying his heart at the feet of Quaker woman, Rachel Hunter, and making plans to wed her.Meanwhile, in 1980, Claire and Jamie's time-travelling daughter Brianna was in her own pickle. Confronted by her colleague Rob Cameron, who claimed to have kidnapped her son Jem and taken him through the Craigh na Dun stone circle (to when?) Brianna's husband, Roger, went after his son unknowingly leaving Brianna and daughter Mandy in the clutches of Rob Cameron and unknown accomplices whose scheme for buried treasure is coming to a fore.Jem, meanwhile, was trying to remain calm inside the deep, dark hydroelectric tunnel where Cameron had stashed him.Are we all caught up then? Good, because it's been five years waiting for this much-anticipated 814-page eighth book in Diana Gabaldon's epic `Outlander' series. She does not disappoint.*** Jamie & Claire ***I said in my review of `An Echo in the Bone' how nice it was to have so many more narrators in the series now. The first few books of `Outlander' were told from Claire's first-person perspective, but as she and Jamie have expanded their family so too have the players increased (along with word-count!) and now we have alternating chapters following Brianna, Roger, Jem, Ian, Lord John Grey, William and Jamie. With `Written in my Own Heart's Blood' the sense of family encapsulates the reader, even as these players are cast so far and wide from one another (and separated by time). But it's a testament to Diana Gabaldon and the two who started us on this odyssey, that Jamie and Claire are still the pivot point and grounding force of this series.In `Written in my Own Heart's Blood' (or, `MOBY' as Gabaldon has been referring to it on social media for the last five years - for My Own Heart's Blood = MOHB = MOH-B = Moby) Jamie and Claire have obstacles placed before them from the get-go. Claire has believed Jamie dead and perished for the last few months, during which time she has been teetering on the edge of suicide. But upon his return from the dead, Jamie finds Claire married to Lord John Grey and the secret of his being father to William Ransom exposed - and this is our introduction back into the world of `Outlander' and the Fraser's ever complicated romance (even assuredly soul-mates as they are, these obstacles do keep readers on emotional edge).As always, Gabaldon honours Jamie and Claire as the beating-heart centre of the `Outlander' universe and gives fans exactly what they want for Himself and Herself. There's heat and tenderness between them, as always, but as the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) intensifies so too do the memories of past horrors they've lived through, together and apart. For Claire she is sifting through memories of WWII and the Jacobite Rising, for Jamie (a lifelong soldier) he is forever haunted by memories of war - the Battle of Culloden amongst his worst, as well as remembered violence at the hands of Black Jack Randall. MOBY is very much a book of reflection for them, and there is a sense of foreshadows gathering as Gabaldon careens readers towards heightened violence during the Revolutionary War.Another great pleasure is in Gabaldon's meticulous descriptions of Claire's surgical and medicinal work. Among the best (worst?) is the reading-equivalent of watching the famous eyeball clip in 1929 silent surrealist `Un Chien Andalou' when Claire must operate on Lord John Grey's eye that Jamie bruised. You'll be blinking in sympathy, trust me.*** Roger & Buck ***Intent on following his kidnapped son through the stones, Roger finds himself out of time along with his ancestor, William Buccleigh `Buck' MacKenzie (son of Geillis Duncan and Dougal MacKenzie). I don't want to give a huge spoiler away; save to say when Roger and Buck land is a very interesting point in the `Outlander' timeline and a lovely intersection of characters emerge on the stage.*** Brianna, Jem & Mandy ***At first when I saw a chapter set in 1980, taking me away from the action brewing in 1778, I was a bit peeved. But Gabaldon makes up for the timewarp in spades: offering readers a truly wonderful gift in Roger and Buck's time-travel, and heart-palpitating action in Bree's "present-day". Readers who have been keenly following Gabaldon's story extracts on Facebook would know that she assured readers of Jem's safety - albeit, his being trapped in a deep, dark tunnel - so it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that Brianna and the children's storyline goes careening into far more dangerous territory as the motives of their tormentors is made known.I didn't think I'd have a lot of patience for these chapters, but Gabaldon threads them beautifully and well before the 400-page midway point, I was as eager to be in 1980's Lallybroch as 1700's America.*** Ian & Rachel ***Young Ian Murray - Highlander and Mohawk Indian - is hands down my favourite character. I just love him, and my heart breaks for all his up's and down's (from being forced to leave his Scottish heritage behind to join the Mohawk, to being put out of his newfound family after his Indian wife miscarried too many times and decided to leave him). My favourite part of `An Echo in the Bone' was undoubtedly the introduction of Quaker, Rachel Hunter - whom Ian describes as a "nut-brown maiden" and who he falls hard and fast in love with. In anticipating MOBY, I've probably been most excited about catching up with Ian and Rachel - who returned Ian's affections by the end of `Echo'.So excited was I for this particular thread of story, that I wished for more Ian and Rachel page-time. Though I loved reading Ian actually have a romance (and with a most worthy, bull-headed and kind woman in Ms Hunter) I just loved them so much that I wanted more! Especially since there were a few scenes that readers weren't privy to that I would have liked - Rachel officially being introduced to Jenny, for one. And, without giving too much away, the final scene of the book is one many readers will be both delighted and frustrated by - but especially delighted, for its promise of more adventures to come in the `Outlander' series.I also wanted more scenes between Ian, Rachel and William - Jamie's son who actually met Rachel and her brother, Denny, before Ian did and who fancies himself half in love with Ms Hunter (even while grumbling that she has indeed given her heart to his Mohawk cousin). A few times it's hinted that William is indeed harbouring deep affection for Rachel, but it's only known to readers through his interiority and I would have liked to observe them interacting a bit more to make up my own mind - particularly interactions between the three of them to know how Ian feels about his cousin's affections. I do hope these three have more opportunities in the future to share scenes and bounce off one another - I'd love to see their relationship become even more complicated and intensified.*** William ***Speaking of William, he does have an increased role in this book. He's coming into his own - though fans shouldn't be expecting too much father/son time so soon, as William is still a soldier in the British Army (technically serving or not) while Jamie is a Rebel. Instead, William has a rather long and complicated shared journey with a prostitute called Jane who he meets shortly after fleeing Lord John's house after learning of his paternity.I was glad to see William on his way to becoming a more established character with his own arc and motives, instead of someone just on the periphery - but the plot with Jane was quite convoluted and never felt substantial enough. Regardless, William really takes shape as an emerging player in the series, and I can't wait to see him grow and prosper in forthcoming books.*** John & Hal Grey ***Lord John Grey and his brother, Harold, Duke of Pardloe are given somewhat substantial roles in this book. Happily so - since the Grey brothers are a wonderful addition to the plot. Not only because they have the insider perspective from the British side, but they actually bring many moments of levity; "So you've not only somehow married Fraser's wife, but you've accidentally been raising his illegitimate son for the last fifteen years?"They are given so much more spotlight in this book too because the central `whodunnit' story revolves around the Grey family, and by extension implicates the Fraser clan. I will say that Gabaldon usually writes thrilling and heartbreaking central whodunnit's that run as a constant in each book. I enjoyed the Malva Christie conspiracy in `A Breath of Snow and Ashes', and the pirate Stephen Bonnet was a great new villain to appear in `Drums of Autumn'. The`whodunnit' in MOBY didn't feel substantial or threatening enough and was in no way concluded, which didn't feel quite right but I'll be happy to read it teased out in the future, making for a bigger conspiracy.*** STARZ ***`Written in my Own Heart's Blood' marks a fever-pitch in the `Outlander' series. One of the longest waits between books (five years!) and released the same year as first book in the `Outlander' series is coming to the small-screen - there was a lot resting on the release of MOBY, and I'm happy to say that Diana Gabaldon delivers ten-fold with this, the eighth book in a series that doesn't appear to be wrapping up anytime soon.As usual, I charged through this book (all 814-pages) but by the midway point I was heartsick to think that I'd have to wait another four+ years to be reunited with these characters. I'm committed to this series and these players, as so many in the fandom are - and it's no light commitment either, not when each book is 800+ pages and the wait between instalments are years-long. But by the last page I found myself grateful again - that Diana Gabaldon has remained such a steady and true author, consistently delivering epic instalments in Jamie and Claire's odyssey and that I have had the great reading privilege of watching these characters grow and evolve. Whatever the wait, I'll always follow Diana Gabaldon and make the trek back to the `Outlander' universe, happily so.
575 of 634 people found the following review helpful. Will I live to see the end of this series? MINOR SPOILERS! By Tabby1249 I'm torn. There are parts of "Written in My Own Heart's Blood" that are equal to some of the best I've ever read, but then there are some elements that I came to feel were self-indulgent vanities on the part of the author. About half-way through I had the sudden thought that this series needs to come to an end and soon.All of the praise for Ms. Galbadon's writing is well deserved as this book is all that we have come to expect from her. She is able to establish setting and character better than pretty much any author I've ever read with the possible exception of Stephen King. I feel like I know Jamie and Claire as well as I know members of my own family. The author's powers of description are excellent and her ability to create tension are outstanding.The story contains all the familiar, well-loved characters, adds several new ones and continues smoothly connected to the one that came before it in Echo in the Bone. We find out the fate of Bree, Roger, and Jem in the modern times as well as seeing Jamie and Claire through some of the early and bitter battles of the American Revolution. Lord John and William also get a fair amount of play in this novel. Truth be told, I found Lord John's story and struggles in this novel thoroughly engrossing almost more so than that of many of the other characters. However, I must confess that William's bellyaching and moaning about his paternity wore out its welcome well before it ended and his and Jamie's collaboration on a problem near the end of the novel stretched my credulity a bit.So, what then is the problem that has me so torn on how to rate this novel? As in each novel, the author mentions in "Written" the time it takes to do the research that results in 4-5 years between the publication of each book. Several reviewers of the earlier books mentioned what they believed to be an excessive amount of descriptive detail in the early books even to the point of saying that they would skim through her richly detailed descriptions of the herbs and plants that Claire used in the creation of her medicinals. While I could certainly see the basis for their comments, it never really bothered me because I felt like I was learning something in addition to being entertained by the action of the story. In "Written" the research has shifted from herbology, botony and pharmacology to the battles, heroes, villains and key historical characters of the American Revolution: Washington, Benedict Arnold, Natty Bumpo and the French General Lafayette among others the American side and General Clinton and several others on the British side. Perhaps it is because I have pretty good working knowledge of these folks along with the battles described in the book that I found it a bit superfluous and, dare I say it, cheesy. These were the parts that I skimmed thorough. Yes, we meet these characters in relation to Jamie's and Claire's involvement in the early Revolution as well as John Gray's travails in the course of the novel, but it felt as if the author just wanted to show off the depth of her research. If that is the case it would appear that the process has become the most important thing to the author. With the loss of balance, "Written" feels a bit more like historical treatise than engaging historical fiction.I'd also like to add a concern about the increasing use of supernatural or fantasy elements to make various plot lines work. Yes, I realize that one of the central elements is time travel and I was sufficiently enthralled by the story to willingly suspend my belief and accept this device. However in "Written" we now have children, Jem and his sister who can "sense" one another when separated over considerable distances as well as the use of letters that allow Jamie and Claire in the 18th century to communicate with Bree and Roger in the 20th century. This letters plot device was introduced in "Echo" and expanded upon in book 8 when Roger makes his trip to 1739 to try to find Jem. Roger writes to Bree, still in 20th century Scotland, to let her know how the search is going and, magically, the letter turns up in the old desk in Lallybroch's speak-a-word room. I thought my eyes were going to roll out of my head as the "letters" are becoming a bit too deus ex machina for my taste. I just wish the postal service was as efficient as Galbadon's time travel mail delivery.Bottom line: I know Ms. Galbadon didn't write this book just for me and while I wasn't as entertained by this one as I have been by the others, I did like finding out what happened to the main characters since "Echo." However, while I appreciate the vast amount of effort that the author puts into the research for her novels, it has begun to feel, to me anyway, that the research process is in ascendancy over the logic of the story. In short, the historical detail seems most important even if it doesn't always add to the readers' enjoyment and sacrifices more logical plot devices and development. Finally, with full knowledge that this may be an unreasonable request and in the face of what some might consider an advanced age, I'd like to live to see the conclusion of this series. At the pace of 4-5 years between books, it's looking less and less likely that will happen.
553 of 610 people found the following review helpful. I love the characters, but I'm starting to see some disappointing trends in the writing. By Gadget Girl ***Spoilers - please don't read if you want to avoid me giving away some narrative points in this novel***I love this Outlander series and enjoyed being with the characters through this telling, but I agree that it was a disappointing read for these reasons:1) Rape as the go-to tension builder/plot point. I was starting to feel this before this novel, but WiMOHB takes it to a new level. Look, I get that there are lots of rapists in the world, but when every bad guy tries to rape every main female character in the story, it does't just get old, it diminishes the impact of the violence and violation of rape. Jamie was violently tortured and raped. Claire was sexually assaulted in France and watched as her companion was violently raped on a street, then she was forced to barter sex with the King to save Jamie's life after he attacked his male rapist in France. Fergus was forced to prostitute himself as a poor urchin in France. Brianna was raped, then she had some kind of weird relationship with her rapist, which I never understood, and led to her being put in danger and almost being sold into slavery (where she was again physically assaulted as a potential buyer "assessed" her person). Claire was beaten, sexually assaulted by multiple men and then raped by a complete stranger. And in this novel, Brianna is forced to strip and be touched by Rob Cameron, who intends to rape her, but she grabs him by the balls (literally) and disables him before he can finish the deed (it's still a sexual assault...if this was supposed to be cathartic, like, look she can fight back and defend herself now, it was not). A new character, Jane, who was sold into sexual slavery as a 10 year old, was violated again and again as a whore, forced to endure anal rape by a British Captain who she finally kills when he pays to rape and assault her 11 year old sister. And finally, upon returning to the Ridge, Claire miraculously encounters the apparent sole survivor of her gang assault and the one man who technically "fully" raped her, and decides to try to forgive him for his crimes, only to have Jamie find out and presumably kill him (it happens "off screen" as it were and is only discussed after the fact by Jamie and Claire). I find this excessive use of rape and sexual assault disturbing, and frankly, lazy. It diminishes my enjoyment of the books, and the impact the stories have on the reader. If you have a series and one person gets cancer, it's powerful and devastating. If every freaking character in the novel gets cancer, it's ridiculous.2) Meandering and disjointed plot. It's fine to have multiple threads or stories going on in a novel, as long as the author is sure to wrap each one up by the end of the book and tie them into a common theme/structure. It's not okay to leave major plot threads hanging in between books, especially when said books come about 1/2 decade apart. And nothing really happens in this book. It ties up previously loose ends, it describes a few battles. Some couples who were already together get married. Some women get pregnant. A lot of main characters are gravely injured, but miraculously survive without much ill effect (I'm getting tired of this go to tension builder as well - someone who is shot, stabbed or otherwise wounded in that time period doesn't recover to 100% like these people do. And let's not forget how old Jamie and Claire are - it's ridiculous how often DG hurts them and then brushes them off like it's nothing). But, there is no main thread or cohesive storyline pulling the action forward. We're on a timeline now. Here's what happens between Jamie coming back from Scotland and when he and Claire make it back to the Ridge. It's like an 800 page Christmas letter ("here's what's been going on in our year").
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Written in My Own Heart's Blood: A Novel (Outlander), by Diana Gabaldon
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