Diana Gabaldon

Diana Gabaldon is an American author with a PhD in quantitative behavioral ecology who created one of modern fiction's most enduring genre hybrids with Outlander, first published in 1991. The series follows Claire Randall, a World War II-era nurse who is mysteriously transported back to 18th-century Scotland, where she falls in love with the Highland warrior Jamie Fraser — blending historical fiction, time travel, romance and adventure across now nine main novels plus numerous novellas and companion volumes. The books' vast scope spans continents and centuries, following Claire and Jamie's descendants and the American Revolution as the saga expands. The series found an even wider audience through the Starz television adaptation, Outlander, which began in 2014 and introduced the story to millions of viewers who then came to the books. New readers should start at the beginning with Outlander itself rather than the show, since Gabaldon's prose builds its world and characters with a density and historical texture the adaptation necessarily compresses. Gabaldon continues to write new entries in the main series and has said she plans to complete the saga's central story arc in a final volume.