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The Outlandish Companion Volume 1
The Outlandish Companion Volume 1
Mar 29, 2026 5:03 PM

Author:Diana Gabaldon

The Outlandish Companion Volume 1

Diana Gabaldon has captivated millions of readers with her critically acclaimed Outlander novels. In this beautifully illustrated compendium, Diana Gabaldon opens a door through the standing stones and offers a guided tour of what lies within. Including:

· Full synopses of Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager and Drums of Autumn

· A complete listing of the characters (fictional and historical) in the first four novels in the series, as well as family trees and genealogical notes

· A comprehensive glossary and pronunciation guide to Gaelic terms and usage

· The Gabaldon Theory of Time Travel, explained

· Frequently asked questions to the author and her (sometimes surprising) answers

· An annotated bibliography

· Essays about medicine and magic in the eighteenth century, researching historical fiction, creating characters and more

· Professionally cast horoscopes for Jamie and Claire

· The making of the TV series: how we got there from here, and what happened next (including ‘My Brief Career as a TV Actor’)

Reviews

A beautiful and compelling read

—— Ann Patchett

One of the most freakishly talented young writers at work today

—— Karen Russell

pleasingly strange ... impressively original

—— The New York Times Book Review

Original piece of dystopian fiction...disturbing and thought provoking...

—— Daily Mail

a distinctive new voice…original…intoxicating

—— BBC

Spellbinding. . . Find Me is crafted to be consumed in small sips, though with a novel so full of mystery and surprise, the temptation is to gulp…

—— O, The Oprah Magazine

A fresh spin on apocalyptic stories, Find Me beautifully evaluates memory loss and the stories we tell ourselves

—— Huffington Post

A timeless chronicle of self-discovery…unforgettable…

—— Time Out

A haunting exploration of loneliness

—— Marie Claire

Laura van den Berg is the best young writer in America

—— Claire Cameron, author of The Bear , Salon

[Laura’s stories are ]… uniformly excellent - emotionally complex, very raw - but always with a mixture of pathos and humour that made me think of Lorrie Moore

—— Dave Eggers

Sad, eerie, smart, cynical and heartbreaking

—— Robin Wasserman

This elegiac debut novel … lingers and aches in the memory

—— The Guardian

A must read

—— Stylist Magazine

This is a thoughtful, touching story about survival—about finding ways to heal and reasons to live.

—— People

In understated prose, Laura creates Joy’s distorted and strange world. As we enter into that fictional world, we see that it reflects, in many ways, the real world where we find ourselves today. And in Joy’s loneliness and desire to connect, we recognize ourselves.

—— The Los Angeles Review of Books

Marvellous

—— Vanity Fair

hauntingly beautiful . . . Don’t miss this remarkable book

—— Bustle

steeped in the anxieties of our era

—— New York Times

[a] brilliant and claustrophobic novel

—— VICE

one to watch out for

—— The Independent

A very impressive, must read for fans of STATION ELEVEN, so unsettling but subtle too. I loved FIND ME…

—— Eva Dolan

a moving, and frequently funny, exploration of character and of trauma

—— Independent

so compelling ... an unforgettable debut

—— Irish Independent

a wonderful read

—— Nina Allan , Interzone

Like Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale or Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, van den Berg’s debut novel presents a frighteningly plausible near-future dystopia grounded in human elements… heartbreakingly real and compellingly wrought

—— Library Journal

Find Me, her transfixing first novel, is in keeping with her short stories thematically, and yet, in its deep soundings, it’s a commanding departure. . . Van den Berg’s enveloping novel of a plague and a seeker in an endangered world reveals what it feels like to grow up unwanted and unknown in a civilization hell-bent on self-destruction. It is also a beautifully strange, sad, and provocative inquiry into our failure to love, cherish, and protect. But ultimately, Find Me is a delving story of courage, persistence, and hope

—— Booklist

In Find Me, van den Berg depicts a life slowly coming into focus—it’s blurry and impressionistic at times, sometimes deliriously scattered. But out of the fog of memory and the haze of drugs emerges a sense of clarity that’s deep and moving and real

—— The Boston Globe

From this memorable novel's eerie first paragraph to its enigmatic ending, Laura van den Berg has invented something beautiful indeed

—— LA Times

This is one of my favorite novels of 2015, and we’re not even IN 2015 yet . . .The language is beautiful, spare, and carefully crafted, and the characters are fully realized and unforgettable. There is tension and redemption and insight and even humor in these pages, and they make for a really incredible read

—— Bookriot

Surreal adventures blend with a reflective and sad sensibility in van den Berg’s lyrical debut novel

—— Library Journal

Both novels offer precision of language and metaphor and scene even as what is being constructed feels messy, chaotic, sad, hopeless... Both orphaned and alone in the world, both so completely real, both telling a story that feels important and exciting to read. I feel lucky to have stumbled upon these books this year, and challenged by them to be better

—— The Millions

This debut novel by acclaimed short story writer van den Berg tends to lean much closer to the realms of literary fiction with its complex psychology. . . Van den Berg's writing is curiously beautiful

—— Kirkus

a strange beauty in this apocalyptic tale

—— Psychologies
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