E-book
Drums of autumn / Diana Gabaldon.
Summary:
It began in Scotland, at an ancient stone circle. There, a doorway, open to a select few, leads into the past--or the grave. Claire Randall survived the extraordinary passage, not once but twice. Her first trip swept her into the arms of Jamie Fraser, an eighteenth-century Scot whose love for her became legend--a tale of tragic passion that ended with her return to the present to bear his child. Her second journey, two decades later, brought them together again in frontier America. But Claire had left someone behind in the twentieth century. Their daughter Brianna...
Record details
- ISBN: 9780385674720 (electronic bk.)
- ISBN: 0385674724 (electronic bk.)
- Physical Description: 1 online resource.
- Publisher: New York : Delta Trade Paperbacks, 2001.
Content descriptions
| Source of Description Note: | Description based on online resource; title from EPUB title page (OverDrive viewed, September 10, 2013). |
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Families > South Carolina > Fiction. Scottish Americans > Fiction. Time travel > Fiction. |
| Genre: | Historical fiction. Electronic books. |
Search for related items by series
Other Formats and Editions
Electronic resources
- BookPage Reviews : BookPage Reviews 1997 January
They're historically rich, but they're not history. They're thrilling, but they're not thrillers. And, oddest of all, they all hinge on the notion of time travel, but they're not science fiction.What exactly are these novels by Diana Gabaldon?For one thing, they are popular: more than a million copies of Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, and Voyager have been sold since Outlander first appeared in 1991. Now, with the publication of Drums of Autumn, a much-anticipated fix has arrived.It's easy to see why the series is most often mistaken for romance. Now 3,738 pages long after four volumes, the story remains quite simple. Amid Gabaldon's careful research and historical detail, at the heart of the story is a relationship-a complex, textured marriage of two strong souls. The only catch is that it's a mixed marriage.Really mixed. Claire Randall has traveled through time from 1945 to 1743, back to the time of the Scottish clans. Pay no attention to how she does it; once you get accustomed to the notion that Claire hears buzzing in a circle of ancient stones in Scotland and is magically transported back 200 years, the story heats up. When she meets the ultracharismatic Scottish warrior Jamie Fraser (he's tall, with long red hair and a tender heart under all that plaid), the chemistry works. And keeps working through the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, through journeys to Paris, the West Indies, and, in this latest book, to new worlds and a brewing revolution. (It's cruelty to give away the plot.)Running through all this adventure is Gabaldon's intelligence and keen observation, and such a convincing knowledge of Scotland that it surprises readers to learn that not only is she not Scottish (she has spent most of her life in Arizona), she had never even been to Scotland when she wrote the first book.Meeting this author, you expect a Barbara Cartland, a woman with big pink hair and a taste for ruffles. You know, a romance author.You'd be very surprised to meet Diana Gabaldon (pronounced GAB-uhl-dohn, with a long o). She's a compact woman, simply dressed in every way except for her nails, which are perfectly manicured. Like her heroine Claire Randall, she's all sense, with a scientist's precise way of talking and a wry sense of humor.Her background gives the nonscientist a headache even to consider: with a masters in marine biology and a Ph.D. in quantitative behavioral ecology (don't ask), Gabaldon had a successful academic career before deciding to do what she'd always wanted to do. "I originally began to write a mystery," she says, "because that was what I read the most of." But the prospect of thrashing out a mystery plot sent her to practice first. "What's the easiest possible kind of book to write? Well, for me, probably a historical novel because I was a research professor, had the university library, and I figured I could always go and steal things from the historical record if I turned out not to have any imagination." Scotland ended up as the setting thanks to a Dr. Who rerun she saw in which he had a young Scottish sidekick. "You've got to start somewhere," she smiles, "so why not Scotland?"The time travel element evolved out of necessity: "Claire wasn't a historical person." Her modern ways constantly cropped up despite the historical setting, so turning her into a time traveler was the best way to make her anachronisms acceptable.It's clear that Gabaldon works like crazy on these books. Each 900-plus-page installment takes only 18 to 22 months to write, an astonishing accomplishment considering that she has three children, a huge amount of research to do, and an eager publisher nudging her to write faster. How does she do it?"It's sort of arranged around my kids' schedule. I started writing late at night when I was writing Outlander, because it was the only time I had, and I've sort of stuck to it. I've always been a night person, so I still do my main heavy writing late at night."It helps that she writes with a sure hand. "My editor never interferes with me. In fact, she's never 'edited' me, so to speak. What she does is she'll take a manuscript home and she says she spends three days in the bathtub and absorb it and think about it for a couple of weeks. She'll call up and we'll spend an afternoon on the phone rustling back and forth through the papers."The skills that allowed her to write a dissertation on the nesting habits of pinyon jays work as well when writing a spicy sex scene. There's never an outline ("I write in lots of little pieces and then glue them together like a jigsaw puzzle"), and she researches as she goes. "I know a lot of people do all the research and then begin to write, but that wouldn't work for me-since I never know what's going to happen, I wouldn't know where to stop researching!"But she does know where the series is going. Two more books featuring Jamie and Claire are ahead: The Fiery Cross and King, Farewell, as well as The Outlandish Companion which will provide bibliographies and background on the series. In addition-her wish fulfilled-she's under contract with Delacorte for two contemporary mystery novels. "This may be my only chance to make anybody pay me for writing mysteries," she says with a laugh.Despite her success, Gabaldon still feels free of expectations from readers. "Because the books are so peculiar, they're not classifiable, so I've always heard from some romance readers who say, 'Oh, but it's not a romance-they don't even kiss until page 346.' So I say, 'Fine, so it's not supposed to be a romance.' Some readers of fantasy will turn up their nose and say, 'There's no magic.' That's right-I didn't intend there to be. So I have so many diverse audiences that I've never felt any crushing expectation from one or the other."As for the way these books have found their audience, Gabaldon laughs. "It spreads like a virus, that's what my editor says. She says these have to be word of mouth books because they're so weird you can't describe them to anybody. So all you can do is say, 'Here, read this.' "Interview by Ann M. Shayne Copyright 1999 BookPage Reviews - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 1996 November
~ A convoluted, long-winded tome from Gabaldon (Voyager, 1994, etc.), who brings back the Scottish rebel Jamie Fraser and Claire, a time-traveler from the 20th century and the love of his life, as they face the late 18th century with characteristic aplomb. This time out, Jamie and Claire arrive in the US from Great Britain and are joined by Jamie's teenage nephew Ian. Although vividly drawn and well-developed, all three characters quickly become tangential; from the very first scene, set in Charleston in 1767, it is clear that the focus is to be not on them but on the ``hot button'' issues of the time: British/American tension, slavery, Indians, and impending war. There's a secondary storyline as well, which takes place in the late 20th century and involves Jamie and Claire's college-student daughter Brianna and her desperate attempts to find love in her present-day life while simultaneously striving to rejoin her mother--and Jamie, the father she has never known--in the past. Roger Wakefield, a Scottish student who helped Claire travel back in time in the previous books, is the object of Brianna's affection now; the fact that he knows about Brianna's parents' unusual situation allows him both to win her heart for eternity and also help her rejoin her loved ones, in very unusual fashion. Conflict between Claire's past and present lives is omnipresent; at various times she's forced to perform surgery (she was a doctor in 20th-century England), explain TV, and reminisce about life with the husband she had in modern times, pre- Jamie. Ghost story, historical novel, fantasy, stock romance? In her attempt to be all things to all people, Gabaldon has created a 900- page monster with far too many components. Only for the author's most rabid fans. (Author tour) Copyright 1999 Kirkus Reviews - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 1996 November
Fourth in a series (e.g., Outlander, LJ 7/91), with at least two more titles planned, this novel continues Gabaldon's successful time travel/romance saga. Set mostly in the years 1767-1770 but with some scenes in the "present" (the late 1960s), this fantasy features 20th-century Englishwoman Claire and her 18th-century Scottish husband, Jamie, who struggle to set up a home in the wilds of the American South. Their grown daughter, Brianna, comes from the present to seek her parents and is followed by her would-be lover, Roger. In a work that will be eagerly sought by readers of her previous novels, Gabaldon continues to explore the themes of love, marriage, and family through time. Though reading the entire series would be best, first-time readers can generally follow with a minimum of confusion. Sites on the World Wide Web already have chapters and discussion areas for this book, so be prepared. Gabaldon truly delivers.-Rebecca Sturm Kelm, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights # Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information. - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 1996 May
The author's best-selling time travel romance series (e.g., Dragonfly in Amber, LJ 7/92) continues as soulmates Jamie and Claire arrive in South Carolina on the eve of the American Revolution. Copyright 1998 Library Journal Reviews - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 1996 November #3
Gabaldon has few rivals in writing exciting?and hefty?historical romances. The fourth in a series of linked sagas (Outlander; Dragonfly in Amber; Voyager), her new epic has a delicious premise. Claire Randall, the post-WWII bride of historian Frank Randall, steps through a skew in the Scottish stone circle Craigh na Dun and lands in Revolutionary America and the arms of Highlander Jamie Fraser?putting a new spin on the notion of a two-timing woman. Bold and bawdy, but a believing Catholic, Claire struggles to live a rich and moral life?or, rather, rich and moral lives?under these extraordinary circumstances. Claire's adventures in 18th-century Charleston alternate with equally engaging chapters devoted to her 20th-century daughter, Brianna. Raised as Frank Randall's child, Bree discovers that Jamie Fraser is her real sire. She takes off on a harrowing, confrontational quest through time and space with her suitor, Roger Wakefield, in hot pursuit. Gabaldon's range is impressive, whether she's evoking the rawness of colonial America, the cozy clutter of a modern Scottish parsonage, the lusts of the body or the yearnings of the spirit. Her legion of fans will love diving into this ocean of romance. Major ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club featured alternates; author tour. (Jan.)
