The Outlandish Companion Volume 2

Feb 28, 2026 5:13 AM

Author:Diana Gabaldon

Diana Gabaldon has captivated millions of readers with her critically acclaimed Outlander novels. Now Gabaldon serves up The Outlandish Companion, Volume Two, an all-new guide to Books 5-8 in the series: A Fiery Cross, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, An Echo in the Bone, and Written in My Own Heart's Blood

Written with Gabaldon’s signature wit and intelligence, this compendium is bursting with generous commentary and juicy insider details, including:

* A complete chronology of the series thus far;

* Full synopses of A Fiery Cross, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, An Echo in the Bone, and Written in My Own Heart’s Blood;

* Recaps of the Lord John Grey novels: Lord John and the Private Matter, Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade, Lord John and the Hand of Devils, and The Scottish Prisoner;

* A who’s who of the cast of Outlander characters, cross-referenced by book;

* Detailed maps and floor plans;

* A bibliographic guide to research sources;

* Essays on subjects as wide ranging as Outlandish controversies regarding sex and violence, the unique responsibilities of a writer of historical fiction, and Gabaldon’s writing process;

* A guided tour of the clothes, food, and music of the eighteenth century;

* A Scottish glossary and pronunciation guide;

* Personal photos from the author taken on the set of the Outlander series.

As entertaining, sweeping, and addictive as the series itself, this second volume of The Outlandish Companion is a one (or two)-of-a-kind gift from an incomparable author.

Reviews

Alchemy, premonitions, disappearances, madness, supernatural sightings and even a whiff of incest combine...a pleasingly nasty affair

—— The Times

An atmospheric and ghostly evocation of a wintry Venice in the 1800s

—— Guardian

Wilkie Collins is the finest practitioner of the novel of sensation... he took the elements gothic fiction relied upon - secret lives, lovers, villainy - and moved them into the suburbs... here the genre fused with the already established crime novel and took it in a new direction, more familiar and more frightening

—— Daily Telegraph

Wilkie Collins [drew] on the conventions of blood and thunder melodrama but subtly let the reader know he's having fun with the game

—— Guardian

Fans of Sophie Kinsella will love this effervescent story.

—— Sunday Express

Only Emily Brontë exposes her imagination to the dark spirit

—— V. S. Pritchett

Hers...is the rarest of all powers. She could free life from its dependence on facts...by speaking of the moor make the wind blow and the thunder roar

—— Virginia Woolf

Commonly thought of as 'romantic', but try rereading it without being astonished by the comfortableness with which Brontë's characters subject one another to extremes of physical and psychological violence

—— Sarah Waters

Lambasted when it came out as irredeemably perverse and, I quote, as practically "French"'

—— A. L. Kennedy

The greatest love story ever told, Heathcliff the hero being a wild, stormy, gothic fellow who will not rest until his beloved Cathy is in his arms again, even though she died some years previously. My favourite moment comes when he bribes the sexton who buried Cathy to bury him next to her, with the sides of their coffins left open, so when they're dug up 50 years hence nobody will know which bones are his, and which are hers

—— Patrick McGrath

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