Absolutely Worth the Wait: Read Our Review of Go Tell the Bees that I am Gone by Diana Gabaldon

Jamie Fraser and Claire Randall were torn apart by the Jacobite Rising of 1745, and it took them twenty years to find each other again. Now the American Revolution threatens to do the same.

It is 1779 and Claire and Jamie are at last reunited with their daughter, Brianna, her husband, Roger, and their children on Fraser’s Ridge. Having the family together is a dream the Frasers had thought impossible.

Yet even in the North Carolina backcountry, the effects of war are being felt. Tensions in the Colonies are great and local feelings run hot enough to boil Hell’s tea-kettle. Jamie knows loyalties among his own tenants are split and the war is on his doorstep. It’s only a matter of time before the shooting starts.

Not so far away, young William Ransom is still coming to terms with the discovery of his true father’s identity – and thus his own. Lord John Grey also has reconciliations to make and dangers to meet… on his son’s behalf, and his own.

Meanwhile, the Southern Colonies blaze, and the Revolution creeps ever closer to Fraser’s Ridge. And Claire, the physician, wonders how much of the blood to be spilt will belong to those she loves.

Diana Gabaldon, the author of the Sunday Times bestselling Outlander series, returns with the newest novel in the epic tale. For those of you who haven’t heard of Outlander (have you been living under a rock?!), it’s a sweeping historical fiction series, first published in 1991, that follows time travelling physician Claire Fraser and her eighteenth-century Scottish Highlander husband Jamie Fraser. The books have absolutely sold their socks off, becoming a world-wide phenomenon. In 2014, the series was adapted into a critically acclaimed TV show, which is set to release its sixth season in early 2022. While I adore the TV show, it’s been seven long years since the last Outlander novel was published, and us sassenachs have been eagerly awaiting the release of the new instalment. The droughtlander is finally over! Go Tell the Bees that I am Gone is the ninth book in the series, and what a read it is!

Go Tell the Bees picks up right where Written in My Own Heart’s Blood left off, with Brianna, Roger and their children returning to Fraser’s Ridge and the arms of their beloved parents, Claire and Jamie. But this is Outlander, and their joy is short-lived as war is brewing on the horizon. What follows is a grand, sweeping story of rebellion, love, duty, and of course, time travel. As always, Gabaldon employs rich detail and painstaking research to bring this historical period accurately to life. And it wouldn’t be Outlander without Claire. Though the novel shifts back and forth between several points of view, Claire has always been the heart and soul of this series. She’s an intelligent, fierce and captivating heroine who really comes into her own in Go Tell the Bees.

Intricately plotted, marvellously paced and vividly imagined, Go Tell the Bees that I am Gone is the perfect addition to the hit series. Pour yourself a wee dram, put your feet up, and settle down with Go Tell the Bees that I am Gone, I can’t imagine a better read to indulge in this Christmas.

Buy a copy of Go Tell the Bees that I am Gone here.