Dragonfly in Amber

Diana Gabaldon - curse you for creating a character such as James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser. For engaging me so fully in your novels that I'd happily spend all night long reading just to see what happens next to our hero and the wonderful heroine Claire.

This is the second book in Gabaldon's Outlander series and begins in 1968 in Inverness with Claire Randall and her daughter Brianna coming to Scotland to find out the fate of a group of men who are suspected to have died in the battle of Culloden.

Seeking the help off the adopted son of her old friend she appears to hold many secrets and Roger soon begins to wonder how she seems to know so much about the battle and the men she seeks to trace.

Stumbling across the grave of a James Fraser in a small churchyard far from the battlefield of Culloden she breaks down and tells her daughter that the grave if this highlander is that of her father, a man she believes dies in the battle of Culloden over 300 years before.

the rest of the book sweeps is back to the time when Outlander book one ended with Jamie and Claire in France setting out to try desperately to stop the advance of Bonnie Prince Harlie Nd the eventual battle he will lead his dates troops to at Culloden. sweeping through the court of King Louis of France and the Palace of Versailles. It sweeps from France back to the shores of Scotland as we follow Jamie and Claire as they desperately try to thwart the advices of Charles army.

This was a wonderful novel, taking place initially in a very different place setting to that of book one we get to see James and Claire as they mingle in the upper echelons of Paris society, but that doesn't mean it is filled with any less danger or superstition than the Scottish Highlands.

Many of the amazing characters from the first book feature again and perhaps I may be alone in letting out a little whoop of joy when characters such as Dougal and Collum Mackenzie made their appearances, so engaging were they. Also returning in this book is the villain Jack Randall, although maybe I am alone in beginning to find something a little endearing about the man.

gabaldon has done a quite wonderful thing, she has created a book based on the concept of time travel and made it into a sweeping and wonderful love story. I was utterly engaged with this book immediately and found it really nice to read about the battles which took place right next to where I myself live in Falkirk. Reading about the stationing of English troops in Callendar House, our closest sizeable historic manor and park.

I am most likely not the only person who would rather love the prospect of finding themselves wishing for the opportunity to escape through a circle of standing stones into the arms of a hunky, sexy Scottish red head dressed in full highland dress. I live in Scotland and even I'd go for that, a visit to find out if Craig Na Dun exists is high on my agenda.

Of course this book again ended on a cliffhanger just trying desperately to draw us into the next book. I am so very tempted to dive straight in but am going to force myself to take a break for fear that any more heroics from one Mr Fraser may drive me to Inverness post haste in search of those standing stones.