VOYAGER
By Diana Gabaldon
Bantam Dell
www.bantamdell.com
ISBN: 9780385335997
Paperback, 870 pages, $15.00
Genre: Historical fiction

The third book in the Outlander series finds time traveler Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser in the twentieth century, making preparations to travel back in time to the eighteenth century to find the love of her life, Highlander James Fraser. Claire has learned from historian Roger Wakefield that Jamie did not die at Culloden, as she has thought for twenty years. Claire is anxious to return to Jamie, though reluctant to leave Brianna, her daughter. Brianna, however, senses her mother’s need to be with her biological father and encourages her to go.

Claire steps through the stones and finds Jamie living in Edinburgh, where he is known in the city as Alexander Malcolm, a printer who prints seditious material, and on the docks as Roy, a smuggler. Claire is relieved to find their love as strong and passionate as ever, but their relationship will be tested in the days ahead, as she finds out that Jamie is now married to the woman who tried to kill Claire twenty years earlier, and has two stepchildren. If that isn’t bad enough, Jamie has an illegitimate son, cared for by his good friend, Lord John Grey.

During a smuggling operation, Jamie’s nephew Ian is kidnapped by pirates and Jamie and Claire begin a grueling journey to find young Ian and return him to Lallybroch. Their travels take them across the ocean to the West Indies, and on to America. Through their trials and tribulations, their love continues to grow, and this time, Claire is determined never to leave Jamie.

Once more Gabaldon provides her readers with a fast-paced, exciting adventure wrapped around one of the best romances written, with plenty of historical information provided regarding the eighteenth century, from the Scottish uprising at Culloden to smuggling operations, voodoo in the West Indies, and best of all, medical treatment of the time.