5th June 2025
How are you?
It only feels like a few days since I last saw you. Hold on, it was!
Have you been busy?
I certainly have preparing a lot of chats ready for us to see each other a lot. Would you like that?
You would. Great! Me too!
In between all the reading and baking I have been doing I have been doing I have been completing a lot of diamond art to reset my head. I recently completed one for my Uncle Mike’s 70th birthday. It now lives in his music in Devon. It was really fun to make.
I have made an awesome friend at my flat called Rhea who lives in the one next door. She is bubbly and full of life and loves arts and crafts. I love showing her what I’ve been doing. I am working on another diamond art for my new bedroom. This one is on a canvas for my bedroom. It’s nice to be working on one for me. I usually give them as gifts. Thank you Marvel Mo for giving me this one. I will show you when it finished.
I am trying to find a nice bright Outlander diamond art to add to my to do pile.
Speaking of Outlander, shall we have a look at today’s review?
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Series: Outlander Book 1
Book Title: Outlander (originally called Cross Stitch)
Publishing House: Penguin Random House
Imprint: Arrow Books
Dedication
Thank you Barbara for introducing me to this world when I really needed it the most.
I started with the show first and was completely in awe. The acting is timeless and raw. Sam Heughan and Catiriona Balfe bring these characters bursting off the television screen. They lift Diana Gabaldon’s words off the page and give them life. The theme song adds its very own power to each series. I love the subtle changes I notice with each one. Here are the titles for Series One, which covers Outlander.
Review
Diana with Catiriona Balfe (Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp Randall Fraser) and Sam Heughan (James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser)
Dictionary Nook
Sassenach – (Scottish) – English person or something English. It’s also James term of endearment for Claire.
Outlander – a foreigner or stranger.
Ways of reading: Audiobook/paperback
Started: 19th February 2025
Finished: 8th March 2025
Read rating: *****
Number of pages: 864
Would you recommend: Yes
Originally published language: English
Date published 1st June 1991
Ease of reading: 5/5
Enjoyment: 5/5
Genres: Historical/Romance/Time travel
Claire Randall and Frank Randall (1945)
Claire Fraser and Jamie Fraser (1743)
Thank you Diana Gabaldon. This book was impossible for me to put down. Thank you for the world of Outlander. The first page had me hooked. The theme of time travel and the power of the standing stones in Scotland drew me in. When Frank and Claire go to them in 1945 and Claire is enticed back alone my heart was in my throat as Claire and I reached out to touch them and fell into 1743. When she touched them she didn’t realize how her world would change. How much she would lose but how much she would gain. It’s certainly a honeymoon in Inverness to remember.
I love reading and seeing her with Jamie and the relationship they have together.
I hope Claire doesn’t have to back to the stones of Craig na Dun for a long time.
In historical terms we move from the end of World War II in 1945, where Claire was a nurse, to 1743 where she finds herself surrounded by Scottish highlanders and finds the wonderful Jamie among them. She even gets to witness the rise of the Jacobites as the Highlanders start to show support for Charles Stuart.
I knew from the minute I started reading Outlander I would be unavailable to do anything else. I have never felt so many emotions while reading before. Anything that happens to Claire or Jamie I can feel. It’s like Gabaldon has control of every reaction I have towards these characters. I am so invested in the world she has created. There were so many times I gasped, whooped or yelled at the book thinking it could hear me. When I met Jonathan Wolverton Randall I wanted to punch him, when Claire helps an injured Jamie, I clapped my hands with joy. I an so glad Jamie has found his Sassenach.
I never want to get off the Gabaldon rollercoaster. The ride starts from Claire having her palm read in 1945 and Frank thinks he sees a ‘ghost’ before Claire is pulled to the standing stones. Frank has no idea!
Jamie Fraser says ‘Ye are Blood of My Blood and Bone of Bone, I give ye my Body, that we Two might be One. I give ye my Spirit, ‘til our Life shall be Done.’ The love he and Claire have is so encompassing that I feel that I wouldn’t want to return to 1945 and my history Professor husband if I had a Jamie Fraser or a Claire. They both show that they can fight for each other while trying to change history. I can’t wait to share my thoughts on Book 2, Dragonfly in Amber.
I hope you have enjoyed today’s review and I will see you next time.
I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this chat, see you soon.
Love Hatts
Xxx
Hatty’s Reading Corner 
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