Finished: An Echo In the Bone (Gabaldon) Outlander book #7! Only one more book to go until I've read them all and then have to wait (I hope not like the Game of Thrones wait) for the book being currently written. :-) In this continuing saga of Claire and Jamie, the couple moves from Fraser's Ridge and right into the heart of the Revolutionary War. Well, not the heart, as in Boston...but they certainly feel the affects of war as Jamie fights for the rebels in North Carolina and Claire continues to put her medical skills to use. Roger and Brianna have taken their children back through the stones to 1980 to get the heart surgery for little Amanda. They buy the now ancient Lallybroch, and in a prearranged twist, keep in touch with Jamie and Claire's adventures through a series of letters that Jamie and Claire have entrusted to the Royal Bank of Scotland, to be given to Roger and Brianna two hundred years later! There's a bit of adventure in 1980 as William Buccleigh McKenzie, Roger's great, great, great, etc. grandfather is propelled through the stones and shows up on their doorstep wanting to go back. And, there's a questionable man who Brianna works with, Rob Campbell, who kidnaps Jem in the attempt to get Roger and Claire to tell him the location of the stolen gold that belonged to Jocasta, Jamie's aunt. Thinking that Rob has taken Jem through the stones, Roger and Buc go back themselves. That's exactly what Rob wanted Roger to think. In actuality, he stayed in 1980 and it leaves him free to intimidate Brianna. Back in the 1770's, Ian has fallen in love with Quaker, Rachel Hunter, and she with him. Will their love be allowed, or will Arch Bug get to Rachel to exact his revenge on Ian?? Jamie makes good his promise to Jenny, finally, as he, Claire and Ian take a ship to Scotland. Jamie wants to pick up his old printing press and take it back to the Americas to continue fighting the war with words and not weapons. While there, they take Ian back to Lallybroch where they discover, much to their shock and heartbreak that big Ian is dying from consumption. It's so sad as they are barely there in time to each spend some quality time with Ian before he dies. Jamie and Ian have been like brothers since childhood, and I think this is the first time in seven books that I had tears in my eyes. :-( While in Scotland, Claire gets an urgent message from Marsali back in Philadelphia that her youngest, Henri-Christian, is in dire need of her help as a surgeon. And, big Ian tells his son, young Ian to head back to America with Claire before he dies to tell Rachel he loves her. So, Claire and young Ian head back to America before Jamie. After Ian dies, Jenny decides to leave Lallybroch and go back to America with Jamie. They book passage on one ship, and Jamie writes Claire of their imminent departure. However, when they get there to take the ship, it has left the day before! Furious, Jamie finagles passage for himself and Jenny on another ship. Tragically, the original ship sinks with no survivors, so Claire is devastated to be notified that Jamie has died at sea! What's more...she's about to be arrested for passing rebel materials, so Lord John Grey, who is also mourning Jamie, tells Claire that her only form of protection is to marry him immediately. They marry, and actually have sex once in their extreme grief and loneliness. Well, sure enough, about a month later, Jamie finally makes it to Philadelphia and Claire falls into his arms, in disbelief that he is alive. He is also being chased by the British militia that is still in control of the town, and while fleeing Lord John's home runs smack dab into his son, William, who is his spitting image. William is horrified to see with his own eyes that he's actually not the Duke of Ellesmere, but in fact, the son of a Scottish ex-prisoner. We end the book with William storming out, John telling Jamie that he has had carnal knowledge of his wife, with Rachel and Ian admitting their love for one another, with Rollo happily looking on, and with wee Jem stuck in the dark tunnel where Rob has stashed him.