A Breath of Snow and Ashes
written by Diana Gabaldon
part of Outlander

The book focuses on two main characters, Claire Randall (nee Beauchamp) and Jamie Fraser, and takes place in eighteenth and twentieth-century Scotland.

Dragonfly in Amber, the second book in the best-selling Outlander series, is written by Diana Gabaldon. Her books are difficult to classify by genre, since they contain elements of romantic fiction, historical fiction, and science fiction. The stories center around a time-travelling 20th-century nurse (Claire Randall) and her 18th-century Scottish husband (Jamie Fraser), and are located in Scotland, France, the West Indies, and America.

The heroine of the bestselling Outlander, Claire, returns in Voyager as a mother to Brianna Ellen Randall and living in Boston in the year 1965. The preceding novel, Dragonfly in Amber, ended with Claire and Brianna coming to grips with the truth of Brianna's real father Jamie Fraser and Claire's travel through time. In Voyager Claire and Brianna trace Jamie's life since the battle of Culloden during the Scottish Rising. Discovering Jamie survived the massacre that heralded the destruction of many clans in Scotland sends Claire back to the stone circle that first hurtled her through time - twenty years before. Voyager is a poignant tale of two lovers finding each other again, embarking on a whirlwind journey filled with danger on the high seas and the constant peril of Jamie's past catching up with them. As the third in what is now a six-book series of Claire Randall Fraser and her Highlander husband Jamie, the story is an integral step in a bestselling and surprisingly rich tale spanning the time from the Scottish Rising of 1745, to the American Revolution.

The heroine of the bestselling Outlander, Claire, returns in Drums of Autumn, reunited with her husband Jamie Fraser and facing a new life in the American colonies. As the preceding novel, Voyager, concluded with Jamie Fraser and his wife Claire shipwrecked on the Georgia coastline - and happy to be out of Scotland - Drums of Autumn picks up right where Voyager left off. Except for a new set of lovers introduced subtly in Drums of Autumn and Voyager, Brianna Ellen Randall and her suitor historian Roger Wakefield, safely ensconced in the 20th century. Now orphaned by her mother's departure to the past, Brianna struggles to accept her loss and satisfy her curiosity about a father she has never met, only to discover a tragic piece of "history" that threatens her parents' happiness in the past. This discovery sends Brianna back through time on a mission to save her parents and sends Roger after her. Drums of Autumn is an intricate tale of the now famous lovers, Jamie and Claire, and their daughter who risked her life and future to save them. As the fourth in what is now a six-book series of Claire Randall Fraser and her Highlander husband Jamie, the story is an integral step in a bestselling and surprisingly rich tale spanning the time from the Scottish Rising of 1745, to the American Revolution.

The heroine of the bestselling Outlander, Claire, returns in The Fiery Cross as a reluctant oracle and wife to Jamie Fraser, her 18th century lover, and facing the politics and turmoil of the forthcoming American Revolution. As the preceding novel, Drums of Autumn, concluded with Jamie Fraser and his wife Claire helping their daughter and new son-in-law, from the 20th century, settle into life on Fraser's Ridge, The Fiery Cross picks up the storyline exactly where it was left - with Brianna Ellen Randall Fraser and Roger Mackenzie about to make their nuptials official and baptise their son Jeremiah. With the American Revolution now only a few years away and unrest brewing Jamie is called to form a militia to put down the beginnings of rebellion in North Carolina, and risking his life for a king he knows he must betray - and soon. Gabaldon delivers the endings to several strands of storyline she had woven through Drums of Autumn, mysterious plots and characters are revealed in the course of this intricate plot - leaving the Frasers and their family poised on the edge of war.