Sometimes you discover a book and immediately know it will be a part of your life forever. Twenty years ago or so, I discovered the
OUTLANDER series by Diana Gabaldon (kind of uncategorisable, but think time-travel, history, Jacobites, the best love story ever but also so much more) and have been hooked ever since. They're not children's books, but an older and more mature teen (16+) could quite well read them. I've heard it said that they are so popular because they portray the human heart and human condition in all its pain and glory, and wouldn't disagree.
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| A trio of characters from the TV show (with added book fan) |
Gabaldon (known to her readers as Herself) wrote the first book as an experiment, to see if she could. Her main character, Jamie Fraser, was inspired by a time-travelling Scotsman in an episode of Dr Who. There are now eight (extremely fat) books, with a ninth being written. The first has just been made into a very successful TV series, (now being shown in the UK on Amazon Prime) - an incredibly difficult thing to pull off in the face of millions of rabid fans who can quote from the books verbatim and have strong ideas about how the characters should be portrayed.
And talking of fans, the power of this one book series brought people from all over the world together in a very literal sense this weekend. I have just returned from the 2nd Outlandish Gathering in Crieff, where over 200 lovers of the books from 14 countries spent a weekend having fun and raising money for charity at the same time. In my desire to help a good cause, I (allergic-to-exercise-woman) even took part in a Highland Games and channelled my inner Artemis in the archery competition. (Let's not mention the extreme aching after five tug-of-war bouts.)
All this happened because of the power of a story. That's pretty darned amazing in my book!
6 comments:
I always think Outlander fans would enjoy Susan Price's Sterkarm books too - they are also timeslip novels, set not among the Jacobites but the marauding border clans, and also with a romantic element. The Sterkarm books weren't marketed for adults but young people - I think one of them might have won the Guardian Children's Book Award - but lots of adults enjoy them.
Thanks for the mention, Emma. I only know Outlander from watching the first episode of the TV series on Prime. I thought myself that it had similarities to my Sterkarm books.
But there is no mystic timeslip/reincarnation element in the Sterkarms. The shift in time is managed via a time-machine operated by a big multi-national company, and the modern characters are fully aware that they are travelling back in time.
The romance, as in Outlander, is across the centuries - modern woman, 16th century man, but I think my Per Sterkarm is less romanticised than the Highlander in Outlander - at least, going on what I saw in the TV series, which may not be true of the book.
Susan - sorry, should have said time travel not timeslip. But Per - well, I think he's pretty strong stuff! Considering who could play him for a Sterkarm TV series now...
The book is much better, Susan. Not that the TV show is bad - I love it - but it's a different medium, and obviously can't paint in all the light and shade of a character (and book Jamie Fraser is many-layered and much more complicated than his screen persona). I hadn't thought of the Sterkarm connection before - I'll definitely recommend to the Outlander fans!
I'll look up the books!
Glad you had such fun, Lucy!
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