TIMELINE
Barbara Schnell, who maintains the German version of this website (to go there, just click on the German flag at the top of the Home page), has compiled an elegant and helpful timeline of historical and fictional events from the books, and has helpfully provided an English version as well!
To visit the English version of the Outlander timeline by Barbara Schnell, go to:
https://dgabaldon.de/timeline_eng/
In addition, she has a link to a constantly-updated list of interesting interviews and reviews, which you can find here.
Danke, Barbara!
Change History:
This blog entry from Diana was originally published on April 17, 2012.
On Saturday, November 27, 2021 at 12:10 p.m. (CST) an updated link to the current version of Barbara’s Outlander timeline was added by Diana’s Webmistress.
Unfortunately, the link to the English version isn’t working. I think it’s just a matter of one punctuation mistake.
Dear Marte–
Thanks–let me go check!
–Diana
Dear Marte–
OK, found and fixed it–thanks for spotting that!
–Diana
Lovely work, Barbara & Diana! Just like in real life, I lost track of how much time actually passed in the series.
Wow – what a wonderful resource, and what a lot of work! Thanks to Barbara for creating it and to Diana for providing the link.
That is awesome, and very appreciated! I knew if I waited long enough, someone would do one sooner or later. Thanks Barbara!
Excellent! This is indeed a wonderful resource, and kudos to Barbara Schnell for her hard work in putting it together!
Karen
This is just wonderful–Thanks!
Wow, so much easier than all the counting I would do on my fingers…
And the hopeless feeling that I could never keep all the “current” ages straight. Happy spring DG & Co!
Thank up Diana and Barbara. This is so helpfull and very much appreciated. I know I will refer to the copy I just printed often.
M ay I say here that I loved The Scottish Prisoner and that I look forward to anything you write. Donna
That review of the Scottish Prisoner in the Ottawa paper is fascinating. Thanks for the great links!
Wow- this time line is so very informative and consise! amazing efforts, thanks so much (Vielen Dank Barbara)
Thanks for this timeline, it’s very well done.
Wonderful timeline, I was recently in a class for a computer program called Link Analysis (used by police/government to track criminal/terrorist activity and people) and I seriously considered doing a network analysis of the Outlander series (all those inter-linked characters!).
One small quibble….Under 1777 — December 20: In Edinburgh, Jamie finds his printing press, which Andrew Bell has kept for him for the past twenty years.
Should read — December 20: In Edinburgh, Jamie finds his printing press, which Andrew Bell has kept for him for the past ten years.
Dear Lisa–
Thanks for the catch!
–Diana
Hello! First time posting on something like this so hope it goes through ok!
Have only recently discovered your writing and have so far only read one, Drums of Autumn which I thought was fantastic, I was so enthralled by it and the characters you have created – only problem is I now realise I should have read the books in a different order – will it spoil it for me because I’ve read them out of sequence? I already have 3 and 5 so am going to try and get 1, 2, 6 and 7 so I can start from the beginning!
So glad I discovered your work, thankyou very much!!
Dear Julie–
No, the books are designed so that they _can_ be read out of sequence–though of course it’s better if you can read them from the beginning. [g] Hope you enjoy the whole story!
–Diana
Thank you so much for responding, it’s very much appreciated. Just started Cross Stitch – and from the couple of chapters I’ve read so far, am looking forward to getting engrossed in this saga from the very beginning! Very best wishes. JULIE
Amazing job!
A little thing: In 1777, says “December 20: In Edinburgh, Jamie finds his printing press, which Andrew Bell has kept for him for the past twenty years”. But should be “eleven years”, because the fire was in 1766, when Claire and Jamie are reunited in Edinburgh.
And… When will be The Scottish Prisoner in Spanish, please??
Thanks Diana and Barbara!
I love this timeline! It is so confusing keeping everybody straight in the past and the future. One thing I did notice, Claire went through the stones the first time in 1945, according to Outlander, not 1946….in keeping with the 202 year difference between events in the past and the future.
Dear Joy–
Well, there’s a glitch in the dates between the US and UK editions of the first book, which is Way Too Complicated to explain here–but she really _should_ have gone back in 1946 (as per the UK edition), so we used that dateline.
–Diana
Wow. This is amazing. Two questions: 1. What are the asterisks for? 2. If Ellen dies in 1729 giving birth to Lord John Grey, that makes him Jamie’s brother???? I must have missed that connection between the two.
Dear Judy–
I don’t know what the asterisks are for; I’ll ask Barbara. As for Lord John, I believe his birth just happens to be in the same year as Ellen’s death; there’s no relation between the events.
–Diana
Hm. I’m getting the feeling that the asterisk for a “birth mark” is a German thing only. Didn’t know that. Is there a symbol I can use, or do I have to say “is born” instead?
Oh my gosh! What an awesome addition to your website. I love love love the intertwining of characters from your books and from historical events. Sadly, though, I had to quickly click on a different page than the timeline…. I am still reading and there were events/descriptions listed that I would consider “spoilers”
and my reaction was “…wait, what??” You are truly brilliant and I will definitely go back to the timeline once I am up-to-date with the books. I hope you will keep it around!
Any chance you guys might consider making this timeline an iPhone app? I would LOVE to have it as a resource as I read (and listen to…and read again…and…) the books. Ohhh…and if you could add some of the Gaelic translations and other resources from Outlandish Companion on the same app, it would be INCREDIBLE. I love my Outlandish Companion, but it’s a little outdated and tough to carry around it and whichever novel I’m reading at the time. Just a thought! Regardless, I’m definitely printing the timeline for future reference. Thanks for doing this!
Dear Chris–
Great thought! I’ll see what can be done. [g]
–Diana
Couple of Questions –
Wouldn’t William Buccleigh Mackenzie (the changeling) have been born in Nov or early Dec of 1743 since Dougal mentions taking him from Geillis when he meets Claire in the cave in December? The January date works with a “six month gone” belly in October’s trials though. Preterm maybe? But Dougal is a compulsive liar and opportunist, still he knew it was a male child.
I’m confused on when Jamie’s soldiering days with Ian and Ian’s grapeshot wound happen. The timeline makes sense until the short story snippets from “Virgins” are thrown into the mix. Those happen after Jamie’s first tour in Fort William and after his father has died – and Jamie seems to have no knowledge of Ian’s interest in his sister. So it seems to me that at late 14-early 16 Jamie is fostering with Dougal (he mentions having his arse tanned at 16 in front of Hall and having to crawl on his knees) then he goes to apprentice with Jared, soldiers a bit, comes home, Randal & Fort William, soldiers/mercenary a bit more, Ian is injured and goes home, marries Jenny (but Jamie doesn’t hear about it?) shortly after this, Jamie attempts to come home to Scotland, is hanging about with other outlaws when he is clubbed on the head, shipped to the abbey in France by his dear uncle Dougal (ha!) and with this return meets Dougal at the shore with Murtagh. During one of these shore meetings with Dougal he lies about what Jenny is up to and stubborn, prideful, ashamed and guilt stricken Jamie never bothers to verify from his sister (or doesn’t have time) Shortly after that Claire enters the story? Is that about right?
I’m just re-reading the series again (3rd or 4th time) – well listening to it this time, Davina Porter is a wonderful reader. And Jamie’s late adolescence/years before Claire have been bugging me.
I love the timeline. It’s great to see all the major events from the books and characters all laid out and easy to reference.
Dear Sonya–
You know…there are a lot of people who Really, Really Care about the details of dates and when people are born and so on. I’m afraid I’m one of the people who Really, Really Doesn’t. [g] Hence my obligation to all the wonderful people willing to slog through the morass of details in order to assemble nice tools like this. As far as the “Virgins” stuff–there, you’ll have to wait and see. I’m pretty sure it makes sense.
==Doama
Many thanks to you Diana and Barbara for the timeline, good work and very useful ! Too bad I haven’t got a printer at the moment, hope I’ll manage later. All the best to you both.
Just purchased The Scottish Prisoner. Is there a First book I should read before this one?
Dear Carol–
Well, no. It’s designed to be readable on its own. It does interlock with the bigger series, though–I don’t know if you’ve read any of the main OUTLANDER novels, or the smaller (but still integral) Lord John ones. In terms of those, SCOTTISH PRISONER follows THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE BLADE (a Lord John novel) and the whole of the Lord John sub-series fits into the middle of VOYAGER, the third big OUTLANDER book. [g] But sure, you can certainly read THE SCOTTISH PRISONER on its own.
–Diana