Drums of Autumn - Diana Gabaldon (Delacorte - Nov 1997)

Series: Outlander (Book 4)

It began in Scotland, at an ancient stone circle. There, a doorway, open to a select few, leads into the past -- or to 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 ...

Now, Brianna has made a disturbing discovery that sends her to the stone circle and a terrifying leap into the unknown. In search of her mother and the father she has never met, she is risking her own future to try to change history ... and to save their lives. But as Brianna plunges into an uncharted wilderness, a heartbreaking encounter may strand her forever in the past ... or root her in the place she should be, where her heart and soul belong....

The story continues. In Voyager, Claire made the decision to go back through the stones to find Jamie, who had survived Culloden after all. Their adventures brought them to the coast of the colony of Georgia and the chance of a new life in the New World. Their initial plan is to go to North Carolina and find Jamie's aunt Jocasta, who had moved there years ago, and then put young Ian on a ship back to Scotland. While there, they receive a letter from Jenny, asking them to keep Ian with them and therefore giving him a better life than he'd have in Scotland. Their trip isn't without its troubles, as they are robbed, meet a pirate named Stephen Bonnet, and run into slave problems on his aunt's plantation. Jamie longs for land of his own and with the encouragement of the governor of the colony, he and Claire head for the hills and establish their new home on Fraser's Ridge.

Meanwhile, back in modern day Scotland, Brianna desperately misses her mother, but is growing ever closer to Roger MacKenzie Wakefield. Until the day she discovers a newspaper article detailing the deaths of her parents in a house fire. Determined to try to change history, she makes a leap of her own in order to go find them, leaving Roger behind. Not to be outdone, Roger follows behind her. He is able to find her, then they pledge themselves to each other before Roger goes off to find a way for them to get back home after they deliver their message.

While separated trouble finds Brianna before she can find Claire and Jamie, leaving her with consequences that could keep her from going home. Through a terrible misunderstanding, Jamie and Ian intercept Roger before he can catch up with Brianna, and they give him to a far away Indian tribe, hoping to keep him far from Brianna. When the truth is known, Jamie and company must find a way to get Roger back.

Once again the book is rich with historical detail and characters that leap off the page. I loved Brianna's determination to save her parents even though she has no guarantee that she can make the trip. I really liked seeing her make her plans and carry them out. The part that Bonnet plays is multilayered, and affects both Claire and Brianna, though in different ways. I was frustrated by Jamie's actions, as I thought he should have at least listened to what Roger had to say before taking action. I loved Brianna's first meeting with Jamie - so emotional. The description of what happened in the Indian village, both to Roger and Ian made me feel almost as if I was there. I also felt for Roger because of the decision he had to make, even though I was sure he would ultimately make the right choice. I loved seeing Lord John and Willie show up on Fraser's Ridge, and seeing the effect it had on Jamie. I also loved seeing John step in to help Brianna.

I really enjoyed seeing life in the colonies as events are growing closer to war with England. With Claie's knowledge of the future they know what side they should take, but hope to avoid fighting entirely. I loved seeing Bree and Roger get back together and get to be the support that that each other needs. 

Voyager - Diana Gabaldon (Dell - Oct 1994)

Series: Outlander (Book 3)

Twentieth-century time traveler Claire Randall faces a possibility both fearsome and exhilarating. Having returned to her own time, pregnant and brutalized by her trip through the standing stones, she makes a new life for herself, training to become a doctor and raising her daughter, Brianna. But the passage of two decades does little to dim the memory of 18th-century Scotland and gallant young clansman Jamie Fraser or the life they once shared; and the constant presence of Brianna, with her father's brilliant red hair and well-loved features, is a painful reminder of the past. Now Brianna is grown, and Claire learns that Jamie may have survived the bloody Battle of Culloden. Dare she risk another trip through the stones, a trip that easily could prove fatal? Will she even be able to find Jamie? And how can she leave behind her beloved daughter, knowing all too well they may never see each other again? The risks are great, the losses unthinkable. Surely the passage of time has changed Jamie too. What might be left of the love they once shared? But courage, and hope, make all things possible. 

Claire takes a leap of faith through the standing stones, bridging a chasm of some twenty years. For a second time, she seeks her destiny with a man she cannot forget. Both of them, uprooted from past and present lives, move as one from the battlefields of Jacobite Scotland to the exotic West Indies, in league with Highland smugglers and Caribbean pirates and face-to-face with political intrigue and the dark mysteries of voodoo magic. Together, in their bold voyage to an unknown destination, they are braving the treacherous tides of the human heart.

Probably my favorite of the series other than Outlander itself. Voyager picks up where Dragonfly in Amber left off, with Brianna and Roger having discovered that Jamie survived Culloden. The first third of the book covers the search for what happened to Jamie by Claire, Roger and Brianna in the modern day, and follows Jamie's life after the battle and Claire's after she returns to the present. 

I really enjoyed the sections that took place in the present. I loved seeing what Claire had made of her life after her return. It hadn't been easy going back to Frank with her heart still with Jamie. There were times that I really liked Frank, as he stayed with Claire and took care of her and Brianna, but others where he was a real ass. There's a great part where he's talking to her about her drive to become a doctor and his envy of her. There are also a couple interesting twists near the end that lead back to her friend and fellow doctor, Joe Abernathy. Once she finds out that Jamie is still alive, Claire is torn between her love for him and wanting to return, and her love for Brianna and not wanting to leave her behind. It takes Brianna's blessing for her to make the decision.

Also taking place in the present is the developing relationship between Roger and Brianna. Though she seemed a bit oblivious during Dragonfly, by the time Voyager starts we can see the connection. There is a sweetness to the way that Roger watches over Brianna, as if he wants to protect her from anything that could trouble her. While the search is important to the historian in Roger, I feel it is even more vital to him because of its importance to Brianna. I feel that the connection between them made it easier for Claire to leave.

The corresponding sections about Jamie were at times heartbreaking. He neither expected nor wanted to survive Culloden, now that Claire was gone, but having done so his life was not easy. In the years after Culloden he was a hunted man, and spent seven years hiding in a cave near his home. He rarely had a chance to see another person. But his love of his family and his people never changed, and it was that which inspired him to get himself captured (so his family could have the reward money).  His time in prison gave a glimpse once again of his natural leadership as he took care of his fellow prisoners. It is at this time that Lord John Grey reappears, this time as the man in charge of the prison. Jamie and Lord John begin a friendship here that will have an effect on Jamie's life for a long time to come. It is John's influence that has Jamie sent to England as an indentured servant, working in the stables. It is an easier life that being in prison, but it also lonelier. An unwilling encounter with the daughter of the house has consequences that finally work in Jamie's favor in one way but is heartbreaking in another. A return to Lallybroch, then a need to leave there sends him to Edinburgh and a whole different kind of life.

I loved the reunion of Jamie and Claire. While she had had time to think about what it would be like, Jamie was taken completely by surprise. I loved his reaction (he fainted) and the tears of joy they both shared. After so long apart, they are somewhat tentative with each other, but their love is still there. It's here that the fun really begins.  Claire's reappearance thrills Fergus, surprises Ian as he arrives looking for his son, and creates a hysterically funny bit of confusion with Young Ian as he mistakes Claire for a resident of the brothel. Trouble starts stalking them as Jamie's lives as printer and smuggler draw the attention of the wrong people causing them to have to leave Edinburgh. A return to Lallybroch exposes a secret that Jamie had kept from Claire, one that he really should have told her before they got there. I understood Claire's hurt and fury, and wondered what had happened to Jamie's long ago vow of honesty between them. In order to recover from this will require a dangerous expedition to retrieve some treasure, a trip that goes terribly wrong.

The trouble that seems to be following them creates a need for a trip to the West Indies in order to recover young Ian from pirates. A trip that involves a plague onboard a British ship that commandeers Claire's services as healer, a sheep loving priest, the reuniting of Jamie and Lord John and the revelation of the other secret he had been keeping from Claire, the continuing search for Ian and the horrifying reappearance of Geillis Duncan.  There was a chilling exhibition of voodoo that really gave me the creeps. The rescue of Ian and a battle with a hurricane rounded out an adventure that even on a second reading kept me turning the pages far past bedtime on many night.