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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?