Product Description

A new Outlander novel — the seventh — from #1 National Bestselling author Diana Gabaldon.

Readers have been waiting with bated breath for the seventh volume in bestselling author Diana Gabaldon’s epic Outlander saga — a masterpiece of historical fiction featuring Jamie and Claire, from one of the genre’s most popular and beloved authors.

Jamie Fraser, erstwhile Jacobite and reluctant rebel, knows three things about the American rebellion: the Americans will win, unlikely as that seems in 1778; being on the winning side is no guarantee of survival; and he’d rather die than face his illegitimate son — a young lieutenant in the British Army — across the barrel of a gun. Fraser’s time-travelling wife, Claire, also knows a couple of things: that the Americans will win, but that the ultimate price of victory is a mystery. What she does believe is that the price won’t include Jamie’s life or happiness — not if she has anything to say.

Claire’s grown daughter Brianna, and her husband, Roger, watch the unfolding of Brianna’s parents’ history — a past that may be sneaking up behind their own family.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33 in Books
• Published on: 2009-09-22
• Released on: 2009-09-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 848 pages

Review
Praise for Diana Gabaldon:
“Riveting. Gabaldon has a true storyteller’s voice.”
— The Globe and Mail

About the Author
Diana Gabaldon is The New York Times and Globe and Mail bestselling author of the wildly popular Outlander novels — Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross, and A Breath of Snow and Ashes — as well as the bestselling series featuring Lord John Grey, a character she introduced in Voyager. Winner of a 2006 Quill Award for A Breath of Snow and Ashes, Gabaldon lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
1
Sometimes They’re Really Dead

Wilmington, colony of North Carolina
July 1776


The pirate’s head had disappeared. William heard the speculations from a group of idlers on the quay nearby, wondering whether it would be seen again.

“Na, him be gone for good,” said a ragged man of mixed blood, shaking his head. “De ally-gator don’ take him, de water will.”

A backwoodsman shifted his tobacco and spat into the water in disagreement. “No, he’s good for another day– two, maybe. Them gristly bits what holds the head on, they dry out in the sun. Tighten up like iron. Seen it many a time with deer carcasses.”

William saw Mrs. MacKenzie glance quickly at the harbor, then away. She looked pale, he thought, and maneuvered himself slightly so as to block her view of the men and the brown flood of high tide, though since it was high, the corpse tied to its stake was naturally not visible. The stake was, though– a stark reminder of the price of crime. The pirate had been staked to drown on the mudflats several days before, the persistence of his decaying corpse an ongoing topic of public conversation.

“Jem!” Mr. MacKenzie called sharply, and lunged past William in pursuit of his son. The little boy, red-haired like his mother, had wandered away to listen to the men’s talk, and was now leaning perilously out over the water, clinging to a bollard in an attempt to see the dead pirate.

Mr. MacKenzie snatched the boy by the collar, pulled him in, and swept him up in his arms, though the boy struggled, craning back toward the swampish harbor.

“I want to see the wallygator eat the pirate, Daddy!”

The idlers laughed, and even MacKenzie smiled a little, though the smile disappeared when he glanced at his wife. He was at her side in an instant, one hand beneath her elbow.

“I think we must be going,” MacKenzie said, shifting his son’s weight in order better to support his wife, whose distress was apparent. “Lieutenant Ransom– Lord Ellesmere, I mean”–he corrected with an apologetic smile at William–“will have other engagements, I’m sure.”

This was true; William was engaged to meet his father for supper. Still, his father had arranged to meet him at the tavern just across the quay; there was no risk of missing him. William said as much, and urged them to stay, for he was enjoying their company– Mrs. MacKenzie’s, particularly– but she smiled regretfully, though her color was better, and patted the capped head of the baby in her arms.

“No, we do have to be going.” She glanced at her son, still struggling to get down, and William saw her eyes flicker toward the harbor and the stark pole that stood above the flood. She resolutely looked away, fixing her eyes upon William’s face instead. “The baby’s waking up; she’ll be wanting food. It was so lovely to meet you, though. I wish we might talk longer.” She said this with the greatest sincerity, and touched his arm lightly, giving him a pleasant sensation in the pit of the stomach.

The idlers were now placing wagers on the reappearance of the drowned pirate, though by the looks of things, none of them had two groats to rub together.

“Two to one he’s still there when the tide goes out.”

“Five to one the body’s still there, but the head’s gone. I don’t care what you say about the gristly bits, Lem, that there head was just a-hangin’ by a thread when this last tide come in. Next un’ll take it, sure.”

Hoping to drown this conversation out, William embarked on an elaborate farewell, going so far as to kiss Mrs. MacKenzie’s hand with his best court manner– and, seized by inspiration, kissed the baby girl’s hand, too, making them all laugh. Mr. MacKenzie gave him rather an odd look, but didn’t seem offended, and shook his hand in a most republican manner– playing out the joke by setting down his son and making the little boy shake hands as well.

“Have you kilt anybody?” the boy inquired with interest, looking at William’s dress sword.

“No, not yet,” William replied, smiling.

“My grandsire’s kilt two dozen men!”

“Jemmy!” Both parents spoke at once, and the little boy’s shoulders went up around his ears.

“Well, he has!”

“I’m sure he is a bold and bloody man, your grandsire,” William assured the little boy gravely. “The King always has need of such men.”

“My grandda says the King can kiss his arse,” the boy replied matter-of-factly.

“JEMMY!”

Mr. MacKenzie clapped a hand over his outspoken offspring’s mouth.

“You know your grandda didn’t say that!” Mrs. MacKenzie said. The little boy nodded agreeably, and his father removed the muffling hand.

“No. Grannie did, though.”

“Well, that’s somewhat more likely,” Mr. MacKenzie murmured, obviously trying not to laugh. “But we still don’t say things like that to soldiers– they work for the King.”

“Oh,” said Jemmy, clearly losing interest. “Is the tide going out now?” he asked hopefully, craning his neck toward the harbor once more.

“No,” Mr. MacKenzie said firmly. “Not for hours. You’ll be in bed.”

Mrs. MacKenzie smiled at William in apology, her cheeks charmingly flushed with embarrassment, and the family took its leave with some haste, leaving William struggling between laughter and dismay.

“Oy, Ransom!”

He turned at his name, to find Harry Dobson and Colin Osborn, two second lieutenants from his regiment, evidently escaped from duty and eager to sample the fleshpots of Wilmington– such as they were.

“Who’s that?” Dobson looked after the departing group, interested.

“A Mr. and Mrs. MacKenzie. Friends of my father’s.”

“Oh, married, is she?” Dobson sucked in his cheeks, still watching the woman. “Well, make it a bit harder, I suppose, but what’s life without a challenge?”

“Challenge?” William gave his diminutive friend a jaundiced look. “Her husband’s roughly three times your size, if you hadn’t noticed.”

Osborn laughed, going red in the face.

“She’s twice his size! She’d crush you, Dobby.”

“And what makes you think I mean to be on the bottom?” Dobson inquired with dignity. Osborn hooted.

“What’s this obsession of yours with giantesses?” William demanded. He glanced at the little family, now nearly out of sight at the end of the street. “That woman’s nearly as tall as I am!”

“Oh, rub it in, why don’t you?” Osborn, who was taller than Dobson’s five feet, but still a head shorter than William, aimed a mock kick at his knee. William dodged it and cuffed Osborn, who ducked and shoved him into Dobson.

“Gennelmen!” The menacing cockney tones of Sergeant Cutter brought them up sharp. They might outrank the sergeant, but not one of them would have the nerve to point this out. The entire battalion went in fear of Sergeant Cutter, who was older than God and approximately Dobson’s height, but who contained within his diminutive physique the sheer fury of a full-sized volcano on the boil.

“Sergeant!” Lieutenant William Ransom, Earl of Ellesmere and senior of the group, drew himself up straight, chin pressed back into his stock. Osborn and Dobson hastily followed his lead, quaking in their boots.

Cutter strode back and forth in front of them, in the manner of a stalking leopard. You could just see the lashing tail and the preliminary licking of chops, William thought. Waiting for the bite was almost worse than getting it in the arse.

“And where’s your troops, then?” Cutter snarled. “Sirs?”

Osborn and Dobson at once began sputtering explanations, but Lieutenant Ransom– for once– walked on the side of the angels.

“My men are guarding the Governor’s Palace, under Lieutenant Colson. I’m given leave, Sergeant, to dine with my father,” he said respectfully. “By Sir Peter.”

Sir Peter Packer’s was a name to conjure with, and Cutter abated in mid-spew. Rather to William’s surprise, though, it wasn’t Sir Peter’s name that had produced this reaction.

“Your father?” Cutter said, squinting. “That’s Lord John Grey, is it?”

“Er . . . yes,” William replied cautiously. “Do you . . . know him?”

Before Cutter could reply, the door of a nearby tavern opened, and William’s father came out. William smiled in delight at this timely appearance, but quickly erased the smile as the sergeant’s gimlet gaze fixed on him.

“Don’t you be a-grinnin’ at me like an ’airy ape,” the sergeant began, in dangerous tones, but was interrupted by Lord John’s clapping him familiarly on the shoulder– something none of the three young lieutenants would have done if offered significant money.

“Cutter!” Lord John said, smiling warmly. “I heard those dulcet tones and said to myself, why damn me if it isn’t Sergeant Aloysius Cutter! There can’t be another man alive who sounds so much like a bulldog that’s swallowed a cat and lived to tell about it.”

“Aloysius?” Dobson mouthed at William, but William merely grunted briefly in response, unable t...

Customer Reviews

Shocked and disappointed
I'll start by saying I LOVE the Outlander series of novels. Claire and Jaime, Roger and Bree, Ian, Jenny... they're all wonderful characters who have been given depth and complexity over the course of the first 6 novels. Then we hit this one. It's my least favorite of the 7.

For the first time ever, I had trouble "getting into" the novel. I felt like too much time was being spent on new characters - John Grey (not a new character by any means, but a minor one in the past novels) was given chapter after chapter of story line, most of which referred back to his own spinoff book which I didn't read because I don't really care about him that much. Characters were mentioned that I couldn't possibly make the connections between, having only read the Outlander series. The result of this was much re-reading, trying to spin the web of connections and make out the proper relationships from the past. Like the French spy who comes looking for Fergus for what reason? Fergus is the illegitimate son of who now??

The Jaime and Claire story took a backseat for the first time. The plot was more about John and his son William (Jamie's son actually, but you know what I mean) and their past. I feel like Gabaldon spent more time developing a way to introduce some famous players into the book than she did developing the original storyline. The story of Roger and Bree in the future was nicely worked in, but was constantly interrupted by descriptions of war and random appearances by Ben Franklin and Benedict Arnold. I realize that she was trying to be accurate in her plot lines, but honestly, I'm not reading it for the accurate historical value. I don't need that many details.

The last few chapters of the book were shockingly different in pace. Some MAJOR life changes and lapses in time were written in under 2 pages, when earlier in the novel, a single battle or trouble at sea would be described in 15+ pages. I was so baffled, I had to read the last part of the book twice. I just didn't get it. Everyone was acting crazy and then the book just stopped. No final thoughts, no ending to speak of, just a conversation between Ian and his Quaker girlfriend (who also became a main character by the way) and then nothing. I flipped through the Author's Notes at the end of the book, desperate for more novel but was disappointed to discover there wasn't any.

I'm not a great one for being patient, so I wish I had not read this book at this time. I should have waited to read this until the next book was written, so I could read them back to back. Too bad I didn't know that until after it was too late. If I didn't think it was an important "connector" book, I would have skipped it altogether.

It's a sad day for me - I truly love the series and have gotten a number of friends and relatives hooked on the books as well. I feel let down. Hopefully the next book will bring everything back to where it should be, with the main characters still being the main characters, and acting like themselves.

So Disappointed
I am a great admirer of DG but I think that with this book she did her characters and her readers a huge disservice. The first five hundred pages have people wandering all over various places -- mostly people like William, Lord Ellesmere; Lord John Grey; a number of new characters with similar names to previous characters and possible relations, and the reader feels the same way. One is hard pressed to even see a connection between many of the storylines. In the last third of the book she settles down to five or six storylines and leaves every single one hanging. The writing is excellent of course, but for the first time in a DG book I found a number of typos.

It just doesn't read like a book about Jamie and Claire as much as it does a lot of new or minor characters. I personally am not as enamored of John Grey as DG is; and I must say that I found the last few chapters completely out of character for everyone involved.

After this one, she owes her readers another book!

Where oh where was the editor?
Echo picks up where A Breath of Snow and Ashes left off as Claire and Jamie Fraser and Jamie's nephew Ian leave life at Fraser's Ridge behind them, head for Scotland to pick up Jamie's printing press and return to America. Of course this _is_ Jamie and Claire we're talking about so there is no smooth sailing and the *road* to Scotland is mired with many side-trips and detours as well. Roger and Bree have returned to the present and settled into life at Lallybroch, although they're also in for a few twists and turns and bumps in the night as well. William is now an adult and an officer in the British army and we see quite a bit more of him - will he and Jamie ever meet face to face? Who is the mysterious man searching for Fergus and what secrets might he reveal about his birth parents?

You'll find new friends among the old from the previous books (and a couple of very surprising returns), although IMHO there are waaaaay too many new friends as well as waaaay too much of Lord John and characters from his books. I'm not that fond of Lord John as a major character and that's why I didn't read the books to begin with and consider it dirty pool to muck up Jamie and Claire's story with Lord John's, particularly that little plot twist at the end. Eww ewww ewww ewww ewww. Diana, how could you?

In the end, I'm wondering if I've changed as a reader, or has Gabaldon changed and/or got a bit sloppy? I've heard many complain about her going on in too much detail in the other books but I was so enraptured with them I wouldn't have wanted to have seen one word edited out. Not so here, the story just rambles on and on with needless plot twists and characters that go nowhere (for shame what she did with Benjamin Franklin), and as for the overly verbose details - I did not need to know every minute detail of every medical procedure performed by Claire and most especially not the removal of Jamie's finger.

Worst of all, was the constantly switching point of views (I believe there are seven) leading to a very uneven, choppy flow and I was always able to put this down and walk away from it - frankly half way through I started another book and finished that before coming back to Echo. Cut a good chunk of the first 2/3 of the book out and flesh out the last and keep it moving a bit more instead of ending it as she did with those maddening cliff-hangers this would be a solid five star read. As it is and I can't believe I'm saying it but - three stars.