Teaser Tuesday - The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon

(Spoiler alert! You may not want to read anything other than the book quotes for The Scottish Prisoner if you are still reading the first three books in Diana Gabaldon's wildly popular Outlander series: Outlander , Dragonfly in Amber, and Voyager.)

It is 1760. At Helwater in England's Lake District, James Fraser, a paroled Jacobite prisoner of war, spends his days in relative peace working with horses on the Dunsany estate. He is content to be able to be close to a small son that he can not acknowledge and grieve for his wife from whom he was separated just before the battle of Culloden. Then the Irishman Tom Quinn comes to Helwater and tries to involve him in a scheme to resurrect the lost Jacobite Cause.

Meanwhile in London, Lord John Grey is enlisted by his brother Hal, Earl of Pardloe, to recover a corrupt army officer from Ireland and bring him back for court martial in London. The only problem is that the documents detailing this crime are written in "Erse", the language of the Scottish Highlanders. The one person who can help them is the Scottish prisoner, James Fraser. Will he do it in light of the complicated relationship (prisoner-jailer-friend) Fraser has with Lord John Grey?

Teaser Tuesday is described by its host, Miz B over at Should Be Reading ,as a "weekly bookish meme" open to any reader who wants to play along. If, like me, you're always curious about what people are reading or on the lookout for the next great read, then this may by your meme. To play, just click on Miz B's link above for the simple rules.


" He is still at Helwater, is he not? Will you go and ask him about Siverly?" Hal said mildly.
"No."
"No?"
"I would not piss on him was he burning in the flames of hell," Grey said politely.
One of Hal's brows flicked upward. . . "Just so," he said dryly. "The question, though, is whether Fraser might be inclined to perform a similar service for you."
"Only if he thought I might drown, " Grey said. p 22

Book description: This book is one of several off shoot stories that Gabaldon writes to expand the characters and plots of the seven books in the Outlander series. She calls it a Lord John Grey novel because it is set in the time when there was the most interaction between Lord John and Fraser. We also get more of stories of other characters, such as Fraser's young son William, who will be in all the upcoming novels. Fans of Gabaldon love all her characters and enjoy reading about them, in addition to the Jamie and Claire love story around which all the novels are written. In addition, these novels between the main Outlander books, give fans a "fix" while waiting for the next one (3-4 years) to come out!

(Photo credit: Ashness Farm, English Lake District, http://outlandishobservations.blogspot.com )