List $59.99

Written by Diana Gabaldon - Audio book performed by Davina Porter - Unabridged Fiction - 33 COMPACT DISCS - 39.25 hours

Publisher, Recorded Books (September 2006)

New York Times bestselling author Diana Gabaldon enchanted scores of fans with Outlander : Book 1, her electrifying historical saga set in 18th century Scotland. Now the sequel sweeps listeners back into the past as Claire relates more of her perilous sojourn there with her Scottish warrior husband, James Fraser. Twenty years after her strange journey back in time, Claire has returned to Scotland with her daughter, determined to share with her the secret she has harbored since her time travel. Still longing to know the fate of her beloved warrior, she recounts the story of her stay with him in the intrigue-ridden court of Charles Stuart and their attempt to avert the doomed Highlands uprising at Culloden. As her story unfolds, it reveals implications more far-reaching than even she could have guessed. Narrator Davina Porter’s gift for expression captures the history and flavor of a harsh place and time and gives it the polish of a warm and engaging love story. The length of this book is a plus, as listeners will find it one to be savored.

About the Author: As a rule, someone with a Masters degree in marine biology, a PhD in quantitative ecology, a university teaching position, and free-lance work for computer magazines and for publications like Disney comics isn’t looking for more to do.

Diana Gabaldon has not gotten to where she is in life by following the rules. A New York Times-bestselling author, she writes books that fit into existing categories about as neatly as she does.

Which is to say, not at all.

Outlander is part romance and part science fiction time-travel adventure, part fantasy and part sweeping historical epic. It was purchased by a publisher even before Gabaldon had finished the manuscript in her “spare time” between teaching, writing, and family duties. The novel introduced readers to Claire Randall, a woman with a husband in one century, and a lover in another.

“I merely wanted to write a novel to learn how,” Gabaldon explains of the series’ genesis. “So I said, ‘All right, what’s the easiest kind of novel you could write, since this is just for practice?’ And it seemed to me that the easiest sort of novel might be a historical novel.” With her strong background in educational research and an extensive college library at her disposal, Gabaldon found the historical period she would use in a way that once again defied expectations: through a very old re-run of the campy British science fiction series, Dr. Who. “This character [on the show] wore a kilt,” Gabaldon says. “And I thought that rather fetching.”

Though she has had to endure some muttering from second-guessers about everything from her first-person point of view to having a female protagonist older than her lover, Gabaldon’s success backs up her assertion that “‘the rules’ are whatever works.” She notes that “there is nothing stopping a book that uses the assorted conventions of one or more of the genres from being both original and of high literary merit.” She adds that popular classics such as Moby Dick and Gone with the Wind tend to occur “when the elements of good story-telling combine with originality and good writing.”

As unconventional as her career has been in so many ways, Gabaldon attributes much of her success to a very conventional “rule”: “I work like a dog. How the heck would anybody else do it?” She offers some rules of her own to aspiring novelists, which she’ll expound upon in detail in a nonfiction book of essays she’s compiling: “1) Read, 2) Write, 3) Don’t Stop!”

Her legions of readers and listeners are hoping Diana Gabaldon will never stop revisiting the characters and situations she has created in her Outlander series. And Recorded Books listeners have been particularly impressed with Davina Porter’s readings of the books. A reviewer in Kliatt commented, “I’ve previously read [Outlander], but Porter’s reading made the story more exciting and atmospheric. Her English narrative voice, her Scottish burr, and her English regional accents are phenomenal ... This is an outstanding matching of story and reader; long but accessible to any reader.”

About the Performer: Davina Porter divides her time between theater work, her family, and the Recorded Books studio. Born in London, her four children are now grown and two are pursuing career in the United Kingdom. Davina spends each summer at the Vineyard Playhouse on Martha’s Vineyard, where she enjoys her theater roles, in plays such as Lettice and Lovage, and the venerable old resort town. She is also Chairman of the Board of the Westport, Connecticut Community Theater, where she has been an active member for many years.

In addition to her work in the Vineyard and Westport, Davina Porter’s acting career has taken her to theaters in Boston, New York City, and Fairfield University as Artist in Residence. She has received critical acclaim for her roles in plays that range from light comedy like Bedroom Farce to the moving Agnes of God.