Product Description

Crossing the boundaries of genre with its unrivalled storytelling, Diana Gabaldon’s new novel is a gift both to her millions of loyal fans and to the lucky readers who have yet to discover her.

In the ten years since her extraordinary debut novel, Outlander, was published, beloved author Diana Gabaldon has entertained scores of readers with her heart-stirring stories and remarkable characters. The four volumes of her bestselling saga, featuring eighteenth-century Scotsman James Fraser and his twentieth-century, time-travelling wife, Claire Randall, boasts nearly 5 million copies in the U.S.

The story of Outlander begins just after the Second World War, when a British field nurse named Claire Randall walks through a cleft stone in the Scottish highlands and is transported back some two hundred years to 1743.

Here, now, is The Fiery Cross, the eagerly awaited fifth volume in this remarkable, award-winning series of historical novels. The year is 1771, and war is approaching. Jamie Fraser’s wife has told him so. Little as he wishes to, he must believe it, for hers is a gift of dreadful prophecy—a time-traveller’s certain knowledge. To break his oath to the Crown will brand him a traitor; to keep it is certain doom. Jamie Fraser stands in the shadow of the fiery cross—a standard that leads nowhere but to the bloody brink of war.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3686 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-30
• Released on: 2005-08-30
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 1456 pages

Amazon.com
The fiery cross, once used to summon Highland clans to war, now beckons readers to take up Diana Gabaldon's fifth installment in the Outlander series featuring the time-traveling Frasers. Historical fiction fans who have waited four long years since the publication of Drums of Autumn will thrill to Gabaldon's trademark detail and sensuality, both displayed liberally throughout the nearly 1,000 pages of The Fiery Cross. In this pre-Revolutionary War period, Claire Fraser and her husband, Jamie, have crossed oceans and centuries to build a life together in the bucolic beauty of North Carolina. But tensions both ancient and recent threaten not only Claire and James, but their daughter, Brianna, her new husband, Roger, and their infant son, Jemmy, as well as members of their clan. Gabaldon delivers on what she does best: poignant storylines, empathetic characters, meticulous detail, and searing passion. Savor every carefully chosen word, readers; it may be a long time until the next installment! --Alison Trinkle

From Library Journal
Get ready for Gabaldon. Starting in July, the publisher will set the stage for her latest by actively promoting her backlist titles featuring 18th-century Scotsman Jamie Fraser. In the new novel, Jamie learns from his 20th-century wife that the American Revolution is coming.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Claire Fraser and her adult children must choose whether to stay in eighteenth-century North Carolina, or return through the stones (whatever they are) to twentieth-century Scotland, from whence they came. Family and friends in the Colonies hold powerful claims on their affection and loyalty. Geraldine James's lovely, lyrical voice presents an enjoyable performance, despite a choppy abridgment and plot components puzzling to those who haven't read earlier books in the series. Her dialects of Scottish, English, and Irish characters come across convincingly, but the stereotypical performance given to Claire's Boston-born daughter falls short of the mark. Still, James moves through the story with a lively pace and engaging manner. R.P.L. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Enthralled!
I just finished reading "The Fiery Cross" and I was totally enthralled with it from beginning to end. I, of course, have read the first four books. Twice actually. This one was my favorite. The other books are excellent and exciting. What I really like about "The Fiery Cross" is that it really digs into each of the characters. You really get to know each of them. Like them or not, they're human. You get a look into their lives and what it was like to live in the 1770s. The love story continues between Claire and Jamie, it deepens, and matures and their passion remains...well, passionate. I never thought this book was boring. I could not get enough of Claire and Jamie's world. I loved getting to know Roger and Bree better. I was happily engrossed with this story, so much so that the hours flew by. I would dream about these people what was happening with them. I would find myself thinking about the story all through the day always anxious to get back it. I read because I love a good story, especially a good love story. It's wonderful to get into Diana's books and totally leave the real world behind for a while. This is an excellent continuation of the series. I enjoyed it very much. I recommend it highly.

A second read through changed my mind
When I initially read this book, I found some of the details tedious and I would have agreed that this book was the least enjoyable of them all, however, when I read it a second time I slowed down and really payed attention to the details of the story. I think like many people on my first read of new Gabaldon books, I DEVOUR them quickly. This is a book to take your time with. On my second read, I found it much more exciting and intriguing than my inital read where I didn't take the time to follow the story lines as closely as I could have. I find it to be a transitional book- where a transition occurs between the inital part of the series and what will be the later stories of the series. The intial parts of the series appear to be much more fast paced, youthful and full of dangers. As Jamie and Clair age, the story appears to adjust to a more rich and full description of their surroundings, family and locale. I now appreciate the book for what it was meant to do- initiate us into the slower paced environment of the Frasier world. The only reason I gave the book 4 stars instead of 5 was because of my initial reaction during my first read. For those who didn't like it, I recommend reading it again slowly.

Downer
FIREY CROSS has a riveting title, but as a fascinating read it ends right there. Any author has a dud ever once-in-a-while, but this story reads more like it was written to fulfil a contract or to appease demanding fans who are impatient for the story to move on.
It begins at the ending of DRUMS OF AUTUMN and takes us through rather modernistic philosophy or attitudes of middle age and early marrage. Ms. Gabaldon had best either jump start Brianna and Roger or get rid of them, they interfere with our love affair with Jamie and Clarie. Clarie was smart when she left her spoiled daughter in Scotland.
Not the best, but I'll take Diana's worst to other historical fiction I've read.
Nash Black, WRITING AS A SMALL BUSINESS and SINS OF THE FATHERS.