Reading List: Outlander

Outlander“Outlander follows the story of Claire Randall, a married combat nurse from 1945 who is mysteriously swept back in time to 1743, where she is immediately thrown into an unknown world where her life is threatened. When she is forced to marry Jamie, a chivalrous and romantic young Scottish warrior, a passionate affair is ignited that tears Claire’s heart between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.” [Text and image: Starz’s Outlander Website]

outlandercoverStarz’s new series is inspired by Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander novels:

If you’ve read those books but have not yet begun Gabaldon’s Lord John Grey novels, in order, they are:

I. Just remember “Scot rhymes with Plot”: General Scottish History

II. General History of England in the mid-20th century (yeah it’s kind of a bummer)

  • How We Lived Then: A History of Everyday Life During the Second World War by Norman Longmatenurses
  • Sisters In Arms : British Army Nurses Tell Their Story by Nicola Tyrer
    “The amazing experiences of the Queen Alexandra nurses in the Second World War form one of the greatest adventure stories of modern times, and — incredibly — remain largely untold. Thousands of middle-class girls, barely out of school, were plucked from sheltered backgrounds, subjected to training regimes unimaginable tough by today’s standards, and sent forth to share the harsh conditions of the fighting services. They had to deal with the most appalling suffering, yet most found reserves of inner strength that carried them through episodes of unrelieved horror. Over 400 nurses died, torpedoed in hospital ships, bombed in field hospitals or murdered in Japanese prison camps. Dozens won medals for gallantry. From the beaches of Dunkirk, to Singapore and D-Day, they saw it all.”
  • Austerity Britain, 1945-51 by David Kynaston
  • Year Zero: A History of 1945 by Ian Buruma.
  • Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II by Keith Lowe
    “The end of World War II in Europe is remembered as a time when cheering crowds filled the streets, but the reality was quite different. Across Europe, landscapes had been ravaged, entire cities razed, and more than thirty million people had been killed in the war. The institutions that we now take for granted—such as police, media, transport, and local and national government—were either entirely absent or compromised. Crime rates soared, economies collapsed, and whole populations hovered on the brink of starvation”
  • After the War by Werner Bischof

III. Like-minded: Romance Novels & Historical Fiction & Time Travel (Oh, My)

  • into.the.wildernessInto the Wilderness series by Sara Donati:
    Into the Wilderness
    “A judge’s daughter elopes with a white adventurer in Colonial America. Elizabeth arrived from England to marry a doctor, but is smitten by Nathaniel, a man raised by the Mohawks. The doctor, however, refuses to give her up and pursues them.”
    Dawn on a Distant Shore
    Lake in the Clouds
    Fire Along the Sky
    Queen of Swords
    The Endless Forest
  • The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons
    “Confronted on the one hand by Hitler’s unstoppable war machine, and on the other by a Soviet system determined to crush the human spirit, Tatiana and Alexander are pitted against the very tide of history, at a turning point in the century that made the modern world.”
  • Tatiana and Alexander by Paullina Simons (sequel to The Bronze Horseman)
  • The Summer Garden by Paullina Simons (conclusion to the trilogy)
  • The River of No Return by Bee Ridgewayriver
    “Waking up in a modern London hospital 200 years after meeting his death on a Napoleonic battlefield, Nick Falcott is indoctrinated into a time-traveling society and returned to the side of a woman he loves to reclaim a vital talisman, a mission that places the fate of the future in his hands.”
  • On a Highland Shore by Kathleen Givens
    “When her Scottish highland village is decimated in a Viking raid two weeks before her wedding, Margaret MacDonald and her surviving siblings find shelter in the home of warrior Gannon MacMagnus, who agrees to help Margaret locate her abducted younger brother.”
  • Rivals for the Crown by Kathleen Givens (Sequel to On a Highland Shore)
  • Kilgannon by Kathleen Givens
  • The Wild Rose of Kilgannon by Kathleen Givens (sequel to Kilgannon)
  • Rebellion by Nora Roberts
  • Kiss of the Highlander by Karen Marie Moning
  • Highland Destiny by Hannah Howell
  • A Cottage by the Sea by Ciji Ware
  • The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsleywinter.sea
    “In the year 2008, Carrie McClelland can’t seem to hit the right note for her next novel. An unplanned detour in Scotland with a stop at the castle that inspired Count Dracula, sets her on a different path. This path took her back 300 years to that same castle, and to a rebellion doomed to failure. Alternating between the contemporary setting and the past, The Winter Sea takes us into little known worlds: historical footnotes, a history of Scotland and the Jacobite rebellion of 1708 and the possibility of genetic memory.”
  • Lady of the Glen by Jennifer Roberson
  • Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
  • The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett
    “In 16th century Scotland, a rebellious outlaw returns home from distant lands, determined to set in motion his own violent agenda that will upset the balance of power in Europe.”

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