E-book
Dragonfly in amber [electronic resource] / Diana Gabaldon.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780385674669 (electronic bk.)
- ISBN: 038567466X (electronic bk.)
- Physical Description: 1 online resource.
- Publisher: Toronto : Doubleday Canada, 1992.
Content descriptions
| Source of Description Note: | Description based on print version record. |
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| Genre: | Electronic books. |
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Electronic resources
- Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 1992 June
An engaging time-travel romance, the second of a trilogy (after Outlander, 1991), that animates the people and politics of a pivotal period in history--while turning up the heat between an appealing modern heroine and a magnetic romantic hero. It's now 1968, and Claire Beauchamp Randall has returned to Inverness, Scotland, with her daughter, Brianna. This is Claire's first visit back since she and husband Frank visited 22 years before--when she walked through a Druid stone circle into the middle of the 18th century. Now, Frank is dead, and Claire hopes to learn what happened to the second great love of her life--gallant Jamie Fraser, laird of Lallybroch whom she married during her journey into the past. She's also looking for a way to tell Brianna who her real father is. Framed by these dilemmas, the bulk of the story consists of the second installment of Claire and Jamie's adventures. Escaping the English death sentence passed against Jamie, they flee to prerevolutionary Paris, where they secretly work at foiling Bonnie Prince Charlie's efforts to regain the Scottish throne. But this espionage is only the beginning. Two rapes, Claire's near-fatal miscarriage, Jamie's attempted murder by one enemy and his tormented and volatile feud with another, the evil ``Black Jack'' Randall, are only part of the action that keeps things lively. Then the inevitable war breaks out in Scotland, and Claire and Jamie are in the thick of it--until the English draw too near and Jamie sends Claire back through the stone circle to save their unborn baby. At the close, Claire is relieved to learn that bighearted, ingenious Jamie--who will surely go on to the final installment--has survived. A most entertaining mix of history and fantasy whose author, like its heroine, exhibits a winning combination of vivid imagination and good common sense. Copyright 1999 Kirkus Reviews - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 1992 July #1
This time-traveling romantic adventure will please fans who have been waiting for the further adventures of Dr. Claire Beauchamp Randall, a 20th-century American who goes to Scotland in search of her 18th-century husband, virile Scot Jamie Fraser, whom she met and married in Outlander ( LJ 7/91). Book 2 of a planned trilogy takes readers along on Randall's quest, as she hopes to find a state or time (like that of the title's dragonfly suspended in a piece of amber) where Fraser still exists. This imaginative novel suffers somewhat from the author's overuse of personification (``spectacles gleaming with concern and curiosity'') and her confusing switches between the two first-person narrations, which sometimes cloud an otherwise intriguing adventure. But Outlander 's readers will still devour this hefty volume without complaint.--Marlene Lee, Drain Branch Lib., Ore. Copyright 1992 Cahners Business Information. - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 1992 June #4
This immensely long, compulsively readable sequel to Outlander follows time-traveler Claire Randall and her 18th-century Scottish husband, James Fraser, to the court of Louis XV in 1744, as they seek to forestall the disaster due to overtake the Scottish Highlands at the battle of Culloden Moor the following year. Having learned from Claire about the forthcoming disaster, James, the son of a Highland chief, gains Prince Charles's friendship in order to subtly sabotage Jacobite efforts to raise funds for an invasion of Britain. When James is banished after dueling with his nemesis, Jack Randall, ancestor of Claire's modern-day husband, he and Claire leave France convinced they have accomplished their purpose. They settle back in Scotland, looking forward to peace, only to learn of Prince Charles's landing in Scotland and his signing of James's name to a declaration of the Stewart right to rule, effectively forcing the couple to the Jacobite cause and a fate they are unable to prevent. Portraying life in court and hut and on the battlefield through the eyes of a strong-minded, modern participant, Gabaldon offers a fresh and offbeat historical view, framed by an intriguing contemporary issue of Claire's daughter's paternity. (Aug.) Copyright 1992 Cahners Business Information.
