Search results for ‘Culloden’

Social Media Hashtags: #DailyLines, #HappyBirthdaytoClaire, #!!! In honor of Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp Randall Fraser Randall Fraser Grey Fraser. [Excerpt from GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE, Copyright © 2019 by Diana Gabaldon.] I listened with half an ear to Mandy’s mingled endearments to Esmeralda and denunciations of her brother and Germain, but most of my attention was focused on what was going on in the clearing below. I could hear Jem’s voice, high and argumentative, and Roger’s, firm and much lower, but couldn’t pick out any words. Roger was talking, though, and I didn’t hear any choking or coughing… that was good. The memory of him bellowing at the children was even better. He’d done that before—it was a necessity, children and the great outdoors being what they respectively were—but I’d never heard him do it without his voice breaking, with a followup of coughing and throat-clearing. MacEwan had said that it was a small improvement, and that it took time for healing. Had I actually done anything […]

Social Media Hashtags: #DailyLines, #GoTELLTheBEESThatIAmGONE, #inhonorofMarch6 [In honor of March 6th, because today was my thirty-first anniversary as a novelist. On March 6th, 1988, I began to write my first novel—in order to learn how. I’m still learning, but you know… so far, so good….] No one went to the Old Garden, as the family called it. The people on the Ridge called it the Witch-child’s Garden, though not often in my hearing. I wasn’t sure whether “witch-child” was meant to refer to Malva Christie herself, or to her baby boy. Both of them had died in the garden, in the midst of blood—and in my company. She had been no more than nineteen. I never said the name aloud, but to me, it was Malva’s Garden. For a time, I hadn’t been able to go up to it without a sense of waste and terrible sorrow, but I did go there now and then. To remember. To pray, sometimes. And frankly, if some of the more hidebound Presbyterians of […]

(Themes of the Outlander Novels) Books don’t write themselves, as anyone who’s ever tried to write one can tell you. And if there is a secret to writing anything—fiction, non-fiction, TV scripts, greeting cards, poetry or epitaphs—it’s this: The only way to write is one word at a time. This is either reassuring or Absolutely Horrifying, depending how to you look at it, but it’s the truth. But, as anyone who writes books can also tell you, books do have a mind and a voice of their own. And a successful book is one that talks to the reader. The interesting thing is that they talk to the writer, too. (Some writers suffer from the notion that they are in charge. Maybe they know something I don’t.) If you’ve ever been exposed to High School English classes, you’ve doubtless been forced to discern and explicate the theme of a novel. This is ungodly boring, but possibly helpful to those who’ve never heard of a theme before. (Frankly, my opinion is […]

Below is an excerpt from Book Nine of the OUTLANDER novels. Note that there are SPOILERS… "Can we wash my dolly’s face, too?" Mandy asked. "Dose bad boys got her dirty!" I listened with half an ear to her mingled endearments to Esmeralda and denunciations of her brother and Germain, but most of my attention was focused on what was going on in the yard. I could hear Jem’s voice, high and argumentative, and Roger’s, firm and much lower, but couldn’t pick out any words. Roger was talking, though, and I didn’t hear any choking or coughing…that was good. The memory of him bellowing at the children was even better. He’d done that before— it was a necessity, children and the great outdoors being what they respectively were— but I’d never heard him do it without his voice breaking, with a followup of coughing and throat-clearing. MacEwan had said that it was a small improvement, and that it took time for healing. Had I actually done anything to help? I […]

Below is an excerpt from Book Nine of the OUTLANDER novels. Note that there are SPOILERS… "God, I miss the old bugger," Jamie said impulsively. Jenny glanced at him and smiled ruefully. "So do I. I wonder sometimes if he’s with them now— mam and da." That notion startled Jamie — he’d never thought of it — and he laughed, shaking his head. "Well, if he is, I suppose he’s happy." "I hope that’s the way of it," Jenny said, growing serious. "I always wished he could ha’ been buried with them, at Lallybroch." Jamie nodded, his throat suddenly tight. Murtagh lay with the fallen of Culloden, buried in some anonymous pit on that silent moor, his bones mingled with the others. No cairn for those who loved him to come and leave a stone to say so. Jenny laid a hand on his arm, warm through the cloth of his sleeve. "Dinna mind it, a brathair," she said softly. "He had a good death, and you with him at […]

by Jean Brittain Published in Scottish Memories magazine in May, 2009. “I am delighted that Diana is joining us in Edinburgh for The Gathering 2009 where I have no doubt she will enchant everyone who meets her,” Lord Sempill says of his invitation to historical novelist Diana Gabaldon, who will feature beside Alexander McCall Smith at a major event of this year’s Homecoming. At right, Diana Gabaldon with actor Frazer Hines at the Gathering in 2009. “I believe Diana’s OUTLANDER series has been instrumental in raising awareness of the clan system which has been beneficial in complementing the hard work done by the clan commissioners to increase their membership in North America,” Lord Sempill continues. “One of the great appeals of the clans is the romantic element of their history, and Diana’s work captures that in a similar way to Dorothy Dunnett in The Lymond Chronicles.” The OUTLANDER series of novels has over 17 million books in print and is available in 24 countries. Her books average a thousand pages […]