VOYAGER

The third (Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber) in a time-travel trilogy that again creates a vivid sense of daily life in 18th- century Europe. Unlike its predecessors, however, Gabaldon's latest relies more on genre clichÇs than on history for its drama. The story opens in 1746, on the battlefield of Culloden, where Scotland's dream of winning independence from England has just been brutally crushed. Our hero, gallant Highland laird Jamie Fraser, survives the battle and makes his way to a cave near his estate. There, he goes into hiding for several years, then turns himself in to the English to protect his near-starving dependents—and winds up in prison. Meanwhile, Claire Randall, the love of Jamie's life- -whom he had sent back through a charmed circle of stones to the safety of her passionless but companionable 20th-century marriage just before the battle began—is raising her and Jamie's daughter and working as a doctor in postwar England. Once their daughter is grown, Claire traces Jamie's fate through historical documents, realizes he survived Culloden, and steps back through the circle for the third and last time—to join him in 18th-century Scotland, 20 years after they parted. After a passionate reunion, they're soon on the run again from the English—and it's an eventful journey. While chasing a mysterious ship that kidnapped Jamie's nephew, the pair and their ragtag entourage dodge pirates, battle a witch, and survive saber slashes, gunshots, brushes with typhoid, and violent tropical storms at sea. Thanks to a string of Dickensian coincidences, they also encounter—or at least learn the fate of—all the principal characters from the first two books. Fans will savor this hefty tome's conscientious tying up of loose ends—but Claire's uncharacteristic passivity throughout and the book's overreliance on convention are unlikely to draw new readers. (First printing of 60,000; Literary Guild Dual Selection for February)