Outlander

Outlander, Book 1

De: Diana Gabaldon

Narrado por: Kristin Atherton

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The first book in Diana Gabaldon’s acclaimed Outlander saga, the basis for the Starz original series.

One of the top ten best-loved novels in America, as seen on PBS’s The Great American Read!

Unrivaled storytelling. Unforgettable characters. Rich historical detail. These are the hallmarks of Diana Gabaldon’s work. Her New York Times bestselling Outlander novels have earned the praise of critics and captured the hearts of millions of fans. Here is the story that started it all, introducing two remarkable characters, Claire Beauchamp Randall and Jamie Fraser, in a spellbinding novel of passion and history that combines exhilarating adventure with a love story for the ages.

Scottish Highlands, 1945. Claire Randall, a former British combat nurse, is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an “outlander”—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding clans in the year of Our Lord . . . 1743.

Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of a world that threatens her life, and may shatter her heart. Marooned amid danger, passion, and violence, Claire learns her only chance of safety lies in Jamie Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior. What begins in compulsion becomes urgent need, and Claire finds herself torn between two very different men, in two irreconcilable lives.

With over 500 audiobooks to her credit, narrator Kristin Atherton has collected multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards for books by Pat Barker, Francesca Segal, Lisa Jewell, and Alison Goodman, among others. She has been cast in the role of Jamie Fraser's sister Jenny Murray in the second half of Outlander Season 7 on STARZ.

©1991 Diana Gabaldon (P)2025 Recorded Books

Outstanding new narration

I've been an Outlander fan for years, and enjoyed the original narrations by Davina Porter. This new narration by Kristin Atherton is an absolute revelation. The characters come to life far more than they ever have before for me. The accents are spot on. The emotions are rich and nuanced. The sexy times are absolutely scorchingly hot. Highly recommend, and I can't wait for the rest of the books to come out.

Love this book!

Great story and storytelling by an excellent author! Diana Gabaldon is a genius at writing

Excellent

I was happy with The performer. I of course watched the series first and loved it The book is almost exactly like the series very well done

Narrator is remarkable!

The narrator brings this book to life! An excellent listen. Easy to feel immersed in the story.

Great story, and performance! But Problematic “Romance” 😬

The performance was absolutely stunning! The accents, pronunciations, and slang all really made the characters feel like real Scottish highlanders come to life. The story itself was gripping and I was very enthralled in the political intrigue and danger.

But the romance is where things get… difficult. Without spoiling anything, the book contains cheating and adultery (the author “justifies” it and clearly agrees with it), dubious or questionable consent between the main couple which is treated as romantic or erotic, and worst of all, physical abuse and discipline treated as humorous and justified.

Essentially, the main heroine is saved from danger by her allies, and is then physically punished by her husband (she verbally, physically and violently resists). She is blamed for her kidnapping and putting everyone else in danger (ignoring the fact that they kidnapped her to begin with).

All in all, it is clear the author is creating wish-fulfilling scenarios for the main heroine, and treats problematic and toxic behavior as trivial and romantic. It is difficult to enjoy the romance when it is immoral and dated in so many ways.

just a great story!

well read, a little hard to understand a few times (Scottish/Gaelic is a bit different to a midwesterner).
But a good audio book.

I love the way she reads!

I loved this version so much! I have listened to Davina Porter forever. I’m telling you Kristen’s read hits differently in a really good way!

Wonderful Narration!

I loved the prior version, and I love this one as well. This narrator is a wonderful actor!

The second-best reading of Outlander available, but still well done

I am a huge fan of the Outlander series of books, and I have to admit I consider Davina Porter the "gold standard" of narrators; I will listen to just about anything she reads and I was really sad that she was not coming out of retirement to read the final Outlander book. That said, I thought Kristin Atherton did a good job. I found her non-dialogue narration a bit flat, but she does great dialogue and very good accents. These books are huge and have to be a challenge to narrate, so they chose well for the next generation.

1000 stars

I listened to this book before and enjoyed it and didn’t realize it was the first in a series. I recently discovered the TV series and it is phenomenal. After binging I decided to go back to the books and I think this series will go down as my favorite of all time. Claire and Jamie are absolute imperfect perfection . The narration is outstanding as well