The Fiery Cross

The fifth of Gabaldon's magical historical sagas begins in 1770. Claire and Jamie Fraser and her daughter Brianna with her husband and baby son are starting a new life in the back-country of North Carolina. Well-born Jamie, courtesy of his friend the Governor of the Colony, holds the title to a large grant of rugged, uncultivated land in the mountains which he plans to tame, and share with his fellow-exiles. In return he must raise a regiment of fighting men, something which makes him uneasy - he's seen enough of war. Claire, though, knows that another one is coming - and soon. Ever since she learned to 'travel through the stones' from one century to another she's been both helped and plagued by what seems an unnatural prescience and the stored memories of other lives which have given her an education and abilities others lack. Medical experience in the 20th century has endowed her with the skills to heal the sick and injured, but not access to the drugs and equipment she sometimes needs. Even ordinary life in the mountains, with its extreme weather conditions and aggressive wildlife, brings new challenges every day, among them the sheer slog of keeping everyone alive and healthy - and reasonably clean. But if the land they live on is exacting it is also beautiful, and there is a lot of laughter, music, companionship, stimulating talk and conjugal love: tender, erotic and uninhibited. But as time passes Claire becomes increasingly anxious about the coming War of Independence. In the end they must make a choice between the war and another journey through the stones which could be almost as dangerous; and will inevitably lead to yet another unknown place and time. Long as it is, the novel's exuberance, invention and thought-provoking ideas never diminish. It's the kind of book that takes over your life - and stays with you. (Kirkus UK)