Diana Gabaldon - An Echo in the Bone

It takes me a good three years to write one of these books, during which time I constantly ask people questions, and during which time helpful people offer me fascinating bits of information that I didnt think to ask for. Ill never remember them all, but think of them all with enormous gratitude.

In addition, I wish to offer grateful thanks to

John Flicker and Bill Massey, my editors, both gentlemen of gall and kidney, who coped nobly with a book written in pieces (lots of pieces), and an author who lives dangerously.

Danny Baror and Russell Galen, my literary agents, two gentlemen literally worth their weight in goldwhich is saying something in these recessionary days.

Kathy Lord, heroic copy editor, and Virginia Norey, book designer (aka the book goddess), who are jointly responsible for the beauty and read ability of this book.

Vincent La Scala and the other cruelly used members of the production crew, who succeeded in getting this book into print on time against looooong odds.

Steven Lopata for his vivid description of being chased overland by a cottonmouthas well as the poetic description of what copperheads smell like (A combination of that snakehouse smell from the zoo and rotten cucumbers).

Catherine MacGregor and Catherine-Ann MacPhee for Gidhlig translations and help in the subtleties of Gaelic usage. Also Katie Beggs and various unsung but much appreciated members of the International Gaelic Mafia.

Tess the nurse, Dr. Amarilis Iscold, Sarah Meir (Certified Nurse Midwife), and a number of other helpful medical professionals, for advice on matters medical, picturesque maladies, and horrifying surgical details.

Janet McConnaughey for OEDILF (Omnificant English Dictionary in Limerick Form) entries, being the Muse of Bloody Axes, and drawing my attention to exploding cypress trees.

Larry Tuohy (and others) for telling me what a Spitfire pilots flight jacket looked like.

Ron Parker, Helen, Esm and Lesley, for elp with the airy ape.

Beth and Matthew Shope and Jo Bourne for useful information regarding the Religious Society of Friends. Any inaccuracies are definitely my fault.

Jari Backman, for his detailed time lines and excerpt listings, and for help with the night sky and which stars are visible in Inverness and Frasers Ridge.

Katrina Stibohar for her exquisitely detailed lists of who was born when and What Happened to Everybody then. Also to the hordes of kindly trivia freaks who are always on hand to tell me how old someone is, or whether Lord John met Fergus when he had the measles.

Pamela Patchet Hamilton (and Buddy) for a nose-wrenchingly vivid description of a close-range skunking.

Karen Henry, Czarina of Traffic, who keeps my folder in the Compuserve Books and Writers Community tidy and the inhabitants diplomatically herded. (http://community.compuserve.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?nav=start&webtag = ws-books)

Nikki Rowe and her daughter Caitlin, for the wonderful YouTube channel they created for me (http://www.youtube.com/user/voyagesoftheartemisfor those who want to see whether I really do sound like Donald Duck when I talk).

Rosana Madrid Gatti, my web-mistress, for prompt and faithful updates and imaginative design.

Susan Butler, for constant logistic support, dog sleepovers, keeping me supplied with black-ink cartridges, and for her brilliant suggestion regarding Jem.

Allene Edwards, Catherine MacGregor, and Susan Butler, for proof reading and Extremely Helpful (if eyeball-numbing) nitpicking.

Shirley Williams for the Moravian cookies and vistas of New Bern.

Becky Morgan for the historical cookbooks.

my great-grandfather, Stanley Sykes, for Jamies line about marksmanship.

Bev LaFrance, Carol Krenz, and many others for help with French. Also Florence the translator, Peter Berndt, and Gilbert Sureau for the nice distinctions between the French Lords Prayer of 1966 (accorde-lui) versus the earlier, more formal version (accordes-lui).

John S. Kruszka, for the proper spelling and pronunciation of Kociuszko (its kohs-CHOOSH-koh, in case you wondered; nobody in the Revolution could pronounce it, eitherthey really did all call him Kos).

the Ladies of Lallybroch, for continuous support and Really Interesting Gifts.

my husband, because he knows fine what a man is for, too.

Alex Krislov, Janet McConnaughey, and Margaret Campbell, sysops of the Compuserve Books and Writers Community, and the many, many, many helpful people who roam through the site daily, offering observations, information, and general entertainment.

Alfred Publishing for permission to quote from the lyrics to Tighten Up, by Archie Bell and the Drells.

The White Swan, taken from Carmina Gadelica, is reproduced by kind permission of Floris Books.

P ART O NE

5.

P ART T WO

22.

P ART T HREE

31.

P ART F OUR

41.

P ART F IVE

70.

P ART S IX

84.

P ART S EVEN

PROLOGUE

T HE BODY IS amazingly plastic. The spirit, even more so. But there are some things you dont come back from. Say ye so, a nighean? True, the bodys easily maimed, and the spirit can be crippledyet theres that in a man that is never destroyed.

P ART O NE

A Troubling of the Waters