Friday, September 25, 2009

A night with Diana

We had an amazing night with Diana the Arizona Biltmore. If you were able to attend then you know how lovely she was. A Piper in Jacobean dress piped Diana to the podium were she read from Echo in the Bone, the new book in the Outlander series featuring Jamie and Claire.

Diana Gabaldon's brilliant storytelling has captivated millions of readers in her bestselling and award-winning Outlander saga. Now, in An Echo in the Bone, the enormously anticipated seventh volume, Gabaldon continues the extraordinary story of the eighteenth-century Scotsman Jamie Fraser and his twentieth-century time-traveling wife, Claire Randall.

Jamie Fraser, former Jacobite and reluctant rebel, is already certain of three things about the American rebellion: The Americans will win, fighting on the side of victory is no guarantee of survival, and he'd rather die than have to face his illegitimate son-a young lieutenant in the British army-across the barrel of a gun.

Claire Randall knows that the Americans will win, too, but not what the ultimate price may be. That price won't include Jamie's life or his happiness, though-not if she has anything to say about it.

Meanw
hile, in the relative safet
y of the twentieth century, Jamie and Claire's daughter, Brianna, and her husband, Roger MacKenzie, have resettled in a historic Scottish home where, across a chasm of two centuries, the unfolding drama of Brianna's parents' story comes to life through Claire's letters. The fragile pages reveal Claire's love for battle-scarred Jamie Fraser and their flight from North Carolina to the high seas, where they encounter privateers and ocean battles-as Brianna and Roger search for clues not only to Claire's fate but to their own. Because the future of the MacKenzie family in the Highlands is mysteriously, irrevocably, and intimately entwined with life and death in Colonial America and war looms.

Diana's fans came from across the country and many have since written or called to say what a lovely evening was had. Here
is one of those emails.

"
What a wonderful time we had - such a special way to celebrate our 41st wedding anniversary, especially for book-a-phobes.

Having worked holidays (that stretched into a year and half) for friends and former colleagues (technical writing and editing at Los Alamos National Laboratory) at our bookstore (Otowi Station) in Los Alamos , I know how much work goes into a book signing - let alone an extravaganza at the Biltmore!

Thank you, Barbara, and your staff for all that went into this effort.

Though I feel I have "known" Diana for years through her books, I was impressed by her graciousness to everyone, and to us specifically.

I had hoped for a more initimate group and perhaps some Q and A's, but I like to think the crowd indicates best-seller sales and additional plaudits for an unique author.

Warm regards and much appreciation,
Judy and Roger Goldie

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