Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon
Written in My Own Heart’s Blood is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by Diana Gabaldon
Title page art from an original photograph by Laura Shreck
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.
DELACORTE PRESS and the HOUSE colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Gabaldon, Diana.
Written in my own heart’s blood : a novel / Diana Gabaldon.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-385-34443-2
eBook ISBN 978-0-440-24644-2
1. Philadelphia (Pa.)—History—Revolution, 1775–1783—Fiction.
2. United States—History—Revolution, 1775–1783—Fiction. 3. Scottish
Americans—Fiction. 4. Time travel—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3557.A22W85 2014
813′.54—dc23 2013043591
www.bantamdell.com
Author photo: © Doug Watkins
Jacket design: Marietta Anastassatos
Jacket illustration: © Robert Hunt; Symbol of octothorpe © Conrad Altmann
v3.1
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
An Outlander Family Tree
Prologue
PART ONE
Nexus
1: A HUNDREDWEIGHT OF STONES
2: DIRTY BASTARD
3: IN WHICH THE WOMEN, AS USUAL, PICK UP THE PIECES
4: DON’T ASK QUESTIONS YOU DON’T WANT TO HEAR THE ANSWERS TO
5: THE PASSIONS OF YOUNG MEN
6: UNDER MY PROTECTION
7: THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF ILL-CONSIDERED ACTIONS
8: HOMO EST OBLIGAMUS AEROBE (“MAN IS AN OBLIGATE AEROBE”)—HIPPOCRATES
9: A TIDE IN THE AFFAIRS OF MEN
10: THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY GHOST UPON A RELUCTANT DISCIPLE
11: REMEMBER PAOLI!
12: EINE KLEINE NACHTMUSIK
13: MORNING AIR AWASH WITH ANGELS
14: INCIPIENT THUNDER
15: AN ARMY ON THE MOVE
16: ROOM FOR SECRETS
17: FREEDOM!
18: NAMELESS, HOMELESS, DESTITUTE, AND VERY DRUNK INDEED
19: DESPERATE MEASURES
20: OF CABBAGES AND KINGS
21: BLOODY MEN
22: THE GATHERING STORM
23: IN WHICH MRS. FIGG TAKES A HAND
24: WELCOME COOLNESS IN THE HEAT, COMFORT IN THE MIDST OF WOE
25: GIVE ME LIBERTY …
PART TWO
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch …
26: A STEP INTO THE DARK
27: NOTHING’S SO HARD BUT SEARCH WILL FIND IT OUT
28: WARMER, COLDER
29: RETURN TO LALLYBROCH
30: LIGHTS, ACTION, SIRENS
31: THE SHINE OF A ROCKING HORSE’S EYES
32: “FOR MANY MEN WHO STUMBLE AT THE THRESHOLD ARE WELL FORETOLD THAT DANGER LURKS WITHIN”
33: IT’S BEST TO SLEEP IN A HALE SKIN
34: SANCTUARY
35: AN GEARASDAN
36: THE SCENT OF A STRANGER
37: COGNOSCO TE
38: THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST
39: THE GHOST OF A HANGIT MAN
40: ANGELS UNAWARE
41: IN WHICH THINGS CONVERGE
42: ALL MY LOVE
43: APPARITION
44: AMPHISBAENA
45: THE CURE OF SOULS
46: BABY JESUS, TELL ME …
PART THREE
A Blade Fresh-Made from the Ashes of the Forge
47: SOMETHING SUITABLE IN WHICH TO GO TO WAR
48: JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT
49: UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE
50: THE GOOD SHEPHERD
51: SCROUNGING
52: MORPHIA DREAMS
53: TAKEN AT A DISADVANTAGE
54: IN WHICH I MEET A TURNIP
55: VESTAL VIRGINS
56: STINKING PAPIST
57: DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT
58: CASTRAMETATION
59: A DISCOVERY IN THE RANKS
60: QUAKERS AND QUARTERMASTERS
61: A VISCOUS THREE-WAY
62: THE MULE DISLIKES YOU
63: AN ALTERNATE USE FOR A PENIS SYRINGE
64: THREE HUNDRED AND ONE
65: MOSQUITOES
66: WAR PAINT
67: REACHING FOR THINGS THAT AREN’T THERE
PART FOUR
Day of Battle
68: GO OUT IN DARKNESS
69: SPARROW-FART
70: A SINGLE LOUSE
71: FOLIE À TROIS
72: MORASSES AND IMBROGLIOS
73: PECULIAR BEHAVIOR OF A TENT
74: THE SORT OF THING THAT WILL MAKE A MAN SWEAT AND TREMBLE
75: THE CIDER ORCHARD
76: THE DANGERS OF SURRENDER
77: THE PRICE OF BURNT SIENNA
78: IN THE WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME
79: HIGH NOON
80: PATER NOSTER
81: AMONG THE TOMBSTONES
PART FIVE
Counting Noses
82: EVEN PEOPLE WHO WANT TO GO TO HEAVEN DON’T WANT TO DIE TO GET THERE
83: SUNDOWN
84: NIGHTFALL
85: LONG ROAD HOME
86: IN WHICH ROSY-FINGERED DAWN SHOWS UP MOB-HANDED
87: MOONRISE
88: A WHIFF OF ROQUEFORT
89: ONE DAY, COCK OF THE WALK—NEXT DAY, A FEATHER DUSTER
90: IT’S A WISE CHILD WHO KNOWS HIS FATHER
91: KEEPING SCORE
92: I WILL NOT HAVE THEE BE ALONE
93: THE HOUSE ON CHESTNUT STREET
94: THE SENSE OF THE MEETING
A CODA IN THREE-TWO TIME
PART SIX
The Ties That Bind
95: THE BODY ELECTRIC
96: NAY GREAT SHORTAGE OF HAIR IN SCOTLAND
97: A MAN TO DO A MAN’S JOB
98: THE WALL
99: RADAR
100: BE THOSE THY BEASTS?
101: JUST ONE CHANCE
102: POSTPARTUM
103: SOLSTICE
104: THE SUCCUBUS OF CRANESMUIR
105: NO A VERY GOOD PERSON
106: A BROTHER OF THE LODGE
107: THE BURYING GROUND
108: REALITY IS THAT WHICH, WHEN YOU STOP BELIEVING IN IT, DOESN’T GO AWAY
109: FROTTAGE
110: THE SOUNDS THAT MAKE UP SILENCE
PART SEVEN
Before I Go Hence
111: A DISTANT MASSACRE
112: DAYLIGHT HAUNTING
113: THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH
114: BELIEF IS A WISE WAGER
115: THE RAVELED SLEEVE OF CARE
116: A-HUNTING WE WILL GO
117: INTO THE BRIAR PATCH
118: THE SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS
119: “ALAS, POOR YORICK!”
120: A CRACKLING OF THORNS
121: WALKING ON COALS
122: HALLOWED GROUND
PART EIGHT
Search and Rescue
123: QUOD SCRIPSI, SCRIPSI
124: BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE LETTERS Q, E, AND D
125: SQUID OF THE EVENING, BEAUTIFUL SQUID
126: THE OGLETHORPE PLAN
127: PLUMBING
128: GIGGING FROGS
129: INVASION
130: A SOVEREIGN CURE
131: A BORN GAMBLER
132: WILL-O’-THE-WISP
133: LAST RESORT
134: LAST RITES
135: AMARANTHUS
136: UNFINISHED BUSINESS
PART NINE
“Thig crioch air an t-saoghal ach mairidh ceol agus gaol.”
137: IN THE WILDERNESS A LODGING PLACE
138: FANNY’S FRENULUM
139: A VISIT TO THE TRADING POST
140: WOMAN, WILT THOU LIE WITH ME?
141: THE DEEPEST FEELING ALWAYS SHOWS ITSELF IN SILENCE
142: THINGS COMING INTO VIEW
143: INTERRUPTUS
144: VISIT TO A HAUNTED GARDEN
145: AND YOU KNOW THAT
Author’s Notes
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Other Books by this Author
About the Author
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PROLOGUE
IN THE LIGHT OF eternity, time casts no shadow.
Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. But what is it that the old women see?