Book 8 of the Outlander Series, Written in my Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon releases on June 10th!  Preorder now

Remember that seven-book series you read voraciously over years because they only come out every few years? Remember trying to fill the void in between with things that just didn’t quite compare? Well, the wait is nearly over for all you Outlander nuts out there, and here are a few things you may not remember from two years ago that you might need to know:

(Beware of SPOILERS, if you are not caught up on the series.  And if you haven’t read Outlander, it has a lot to offer: action, adventure, romance, time travel, history– and the character development is top notch.)

• Jamie and Claire continue to find themselves in endless peril, followed closely through letters by Brianna and Roger, seemingly safe in the 20th century. But, as usual, disaster ensues, and An Echo in the Bone closes with NEARLY EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER IN THE ENTIRE NOVEL IN GRAVE PERIL, one way or another.
• Claire, having believed Jamie dead, is married to (and having relations with!) Lord John Grey, whom said not-dead husband has just used to escape with half the British Army on their heels.  The price you have to pay for sneaking through enemy lines to let your wife know you’re alive after all…
• William knows who his real father is, and is off in search of one big, destructive bender…
• Roger and that guy who tried to hang him (his 4x great grandfather, actually, and according to the family tree, set to die at any time) are off through the stones, in search of Rob Cameron, a really big tool with his eye on Brianna, who rifled through their stuff, figured out their secret, and kidnapped Jem in hopes of finding the Spainard’s gold…
• However, Jem is actually in the tunnel where Brianna works, headed toward the time warp on a moving train, while-
• Brianna is the one actually in the custody of Rob Cameron (though considering her ferocity, perhaps he’s in more peril, not that I care)…
• AND, though Ian and Rachel are assumedly fine, now that Arch Bug is assumedly dead, and no longer out to get Ian and his love Freddy Kruger style (for inadvertently killing his wife in the gold sting at the big house on Frasers ridge– something to be happy about for the last two years while you waited), that whole “violent man in love with a Quaker” thing is bound to continue to make things perilous for them. Not to mention William’s in love with her too, and on a bender.

Other useful details:

• There are now several novellas that fill in some Outlander holes:  What happened to Roger’s parents, What  happened to the Comte St. Germaine,  How Jamie filled the time before Claire returned, and a whole host of Lord John Novellas.
• If you somehow missed it, Outlander (Book 1) is now a Starz series, airing in August.
• Through a remarkable series of coincidences, Grey’s niece Dottie has at some point had the opportunity to fall in love with Rachel’s brother, Dr. Denzell Hunter, who saved William’s life, after he was found by Ian, after some tool by the name of Randall Denys Issacs (the son of not Black Jack but Alexander Randall and Mary Hawkins apparently) sent William on an espionage-y errand probably designed to kill him.  And in a nice cousin-cousin-sister-brother quadrangle, William in love with Dr. Hunter’s sister Rachel, though she’s of course in love with Ian…
• Who had a son with his Mohawk wife Emily after all! Whaaaat!
• Having also just lost his father in Scotland, Ian still believes that his mother and Jamie drowned on the passage to America.
• And….the Comte St Germaine is possibly Fergus’ real father. Meaning… possibly Fergus can time travel, too?

Anything I missed?

Happy reading in T minus 20 days or so! Preorder NOW