The Outlander

Slow going at the start. It's a 19th century pastoral, set in Canada circa 1903, with a plodding focus on detail. Told in the third person, our protagonist is an essentially nameless woman escaping from the brothers of the husband she's just killed. Despite this, I begin to wonder why I should care. She doesn't seem capable of carrying the plot on her own.

It's not until she comes into focus in relation to those she meets does the story start to pick up. The second half almost warrants a fourth star. I enjoyed the growing cast of characters including the mountain hermit, the pugilist preacher, the monstrous Italian moonshiner and the dwarf shopkeeper. The nameless “widow” slowly comes into focus as Mary Boulton - present during the worst landslide of North American history when 90 millions tons of limestone slid down Turtle Mountain in 100 seconds killing nearly 100 people. I wish I could give it a 3 and a half.