Voyager

Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser, the novel’s protagonist, reflects on her childhood fear of stepping into puddles. Claire always worried that there was something lurking beneath the puddles on the streets, and even into adulthood, she still wonders what would happen if she were to step into a puddle and fall into that world, not unlike her time-travel between 1945 and 1743.

A new, anonymous narrator describes how, on April 16, 1746, Jamie Fraser woke on the battlefield of Culloden, wondering whether he was dead or alive. He thinks of his wife, Claire, and their unborn child. Earlier that day, Jamie miraculously survived the deadly Battle of Culloden. Jamie brought Claire to the magical standing stones at Craigh Na Dun, where she had traveled through time three years prior. Jamie knew that the best life for Claire and their child was in Claire’s own time—the 20th century. Believing he would die in battle that day, he thought his agony in losing Claire wouldn’t last long.

Jamie is shocked to find himself alive, though barely, and with no feeling in his left leg. The battlefield is strewn with bodies from both sides of the battle, and Jamie finds himself trapped underneath the corpse of Jack Randall, an English captain and his former torturer.