Outlander

Okay, so I realize this book is 20 years old, but I must have missed it back then because I don't remember reading it. And I think I would have remembered this 700-page, lose-yourself-in-it page-turner.

It's 1945, and English nurse Claire Beauchamp Randall is on a trip to Scotland with her husband following their separation during WWII. While there she walks through a standing stone and finds herself back in the Scotland of 1743 - a very different time. There she meets her husband's nasty ancestor Jonathan Randall, a likeable but suspicious bunch of MacKenzie's who take her under their collective wing, and a handsome young man named Jamie who offers a little something more.

I am a sucker for time-travel novels, particularly when the traveler goes back to some particularly interesting era of British history, and author Diana Gabaldon does it particularly well. The characters are really complex and likeable, and pretty realistic from my assessment. And the story just sweeps you up - it's really a page turner.

If you like British history with a little romance and fish-out-of-water thrown in, this is the novel for you. And apparently the first in a series... I just put the second one on hold at the library. That's a testament to how good these are - they're 20 years old and still on reserve!

Outlander