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
br />   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?