Best reason to read Historical Romance fiction
It has characters that actually existed and it is a fascinating learning experience .
Introduction to the Iceberg of Outlander
January 2019
When the adverts for the fourth season
of The Outlander were playing in the fall they grabbed my
interest as
they seemed like something I'd be interested in. However, I had not
watched the first three seasons so in the hope I could find them in
repeats I starting taped the fourth . Never found repeats or DVD's to
borrow so added them to my Christmas list. Didn't get them and
although I could get them for myself found the first three seasons on
Netflix. Watched episode one of the first season, it grabbed more than
my interest so watched the second and third episodes. By then I wanted
to know much more. "Maybe I should read the books", I thought. Downloaded the first
via our public library. Now the characters where coming alive in the
book and I was hooked.
I have roots from the Scottish
Highlands, a 4th great Grandfather who emigrated to Canada
in the later 1700's and it seems he may have lived somewhere in the
area the book was centered around. A few years ago I had more or less
pinned down where he emigrated from so looked on a map as to where Iverness compared the where my ancestor was living before coming to Canada. Noticed a Fort William about where he came from.
However, thought my hubby may be
interested too and he decided to give it a try. We watched the first
three episodes together and I was picking up more bits and pieces of
it such as Fort William, that for sure was in the area I had for my
4th Great Grandfather Ewing McMillan. Now because the
Mackenzie Clan seems to have owned an area north of the fort tried to find out how
the McMillan Clan fit in – too confusing to figure out with Goggle
searches, Some serious reading and a lot of research would be needed...perhaps I can contact the McMillan Clan and find out more What
has happened though is I can picture my ancestors in the middle of
what was happening in the mid 1700's and possibly realized why I cannot
pinpoint the McMillan Clan.
Thought I had found the passenger ship
list with my Grandfather and his brother, Dougal But not so sure now
the more I read and watch I have any of the above right.
Diane Gabaldon's Outlander series is
the sort of book I enjoy – historical romance. Of course many
fiction books that include historical facts also have some violence,
lewdness and goriness to them but they are likely a true picture of
what it was like during that time as genealogy has taught me.
We will continued to watch Season One
until it is finished. In the meantime I am reading Outlander, it
will take some time to finish as it is over 1,000 pages.
Had planned to hold off on watching
more of the series until I caught up in the book (after 6 segments)
but changed my mind as the characters, as mentioned before, are coming
to life in the book as are the sets in the videos are giving them a place
to be.
Another thing the book is doing is
'teaching' me new words (most historical books do). As a
Creative Writing leader told me about 13 years ago when I tried my hand at a fiction story
based in the 50's "You need to use the term that would have been used back
then.", I had written mentally challenged about one of the characters , a youth – that was the end of trying
fiction for me I could not do it...
When Claire Randell the main character
in Outlander mentioned L'Heure a cologne that brought back imagines
of Aunt Gloria, my Uncle Robert's first wife. Not sure why I
thought of my aunt it just seemed at the time that she likely used
that cologne. Did a Google search for it and the tie to Aunt Gloria became stronger. Do I have an image of it stuck in my head that
refuses to come out?
Robert and Gloria married in the early
50's when I was a very impressionable young girl who wanted to be
like older girls, thus a young woman that took my sister Linda and I
downtown to see Santa Claus and the wonders of the Eaton's children's
Christmas area with the magical ride on train, left her mark on
me. Should mention that my Uncle Robert was with us too but other
that his fancy car he was in the background in my mind.
While I was searching for L'Heure which
is available on-line, also checked on two of my favorite colognes
from our early married years. Bluegrass by Elizabeth Arden which I
had taken on our honeymoon and White Shoulders by Evyan For Women I
always associate it with our first anniversary as it was new to me
then. Blue Grass and White
Shoulders out of the drawer and put them where I will see them daily, vowing to wear the colognes more than I have in years as they both take me back
to special moments in my young woman days and why let something I teases my senses with to stir up pleasant memories from so far back in time to dry up.
Have not bought either for years and the bottle of White
Shoulder I have is at at 19 year old - Dad gave it to me thanks to my sister Linda who knew me so well. Took both the Will also mentioned in a veiled method that my husband is enjoying Outlander much more than either of us expected wink, wink or are the fragrances of days long gone by responsible?
Outlander is the first book in a series of at least 9 to date and apparently between them there are more than 9,000 pages. Seem I have set myself quiet a goal for 2019 as I plan to read them all. Diane Gabaldon is writing the 10th now.So looking forward to reading this historial romance series/
January 16th - Ordered the first five books and doubt that I will complete the goal I see of reading the series. There or over 5,000 pages in the first five books alone Wow!
“Lying on the floor, with the carved panels of the ceiling flickering dimly above, I found myself thinking that I had always heretofore assumed that the tendency of eighteenth-century ladies to swoon was due to tight stays; now I rather thought it might be due to the idiocy of eighteenth-century men. ”
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