Written in My Own Heart's Blood

Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I know I've read a good book when I'm still dreaming about the book DAYS after I've finished reading. Gabaldon's book is stuck in my head. This is not a bad thing. She has beautiful characters. Even the bad guys are lovely. She writes a lovely story, complex - yes, detailed - yes, and memorable - ohmyyes.

I cried. I laughed. I said "Huh, didn't know that." I squirmed at some of the medical procedures described. I loved. I loved. I loved. I want more. More Jamie, more Claire, more William, more Ian, and more Jem. (I have to confess, I love when the story is told from Jem's point of view so much more than Brianna's or Roger's.)

There are bittersweet moments in the book - after reading Gabaldon's short story about Roger's father - and finding the point in Roger's story where the two stories intersect... it was so sad, and longing, to know what Roger didn't. My kids gave me strange looks when I shouted at the book "He did make it back and he saved you!" Sigh.

I'm ready to read this book again. And again. And again.



Synopsis: WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART’S BLOOD is the eighth novel in the world-famous OUTLANDER series. In June of 1778, the world turns upside-down. The British army withdraws from Philadelphia, George Washington prepares to move from Valley Forge in pursuit, and Jamie Fraser comes back from the dead to discover that his best friend has married Jamie’s wife. The ninth Earl of Ellesmere discovers to his horror that he is in fact the illegitimate son of the newly-resurrected Jamie Fraser (a rebel and a Scottish criminal!) and Jamie’s nephew Ian Murray discovers that his new-found cousin has an eye for Ian’s Quaker betrothed.

Meanwhile, Claire Fraser deals with an asthmatic duke, Benedict Arnold, and the fear that one of her husbands may have murdered the other. And in the 20th century, Jamie and Claire’s daughter Brianna is thinking that things are probably easier in the 18th century: her son has been kidnapped, her husband has disappeared into the past, and she’s facing a vicious criminal with nothing but a stapler in her hand. Fortunately, her daughter has a miniature cricket bat and her mother’s pragmatism.


Recommended Reading:
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness
Edge of Eternity by Ken Follett
Winter Witch by Paula Brackston