Virgins by Diana Gabaldon

Virgins is a short story prequel to the Outlander saga that is found in the new short story collection, Dangerous Women edited by George R.R. Martin.  I will admit that I bought Dangerous Women for my husband Ben for Christmas as he wanted to read Martin’s latest short story.  I was delighted to see that Gabaldon had a story in the collection as well.  When Ben finished his story, he handed it off to me to read.  This review is only for this short story, I hope to read the entire book one of these days.

Virgins is a prequel to Outlander starring Jamie Fraser and Ian Murray.  After Jamie faced a brutal whipping from British officer and nemesis Black Jack Randall, he went to France in search of his friend Ian Murray. Ian is with a group of mercenaries.  They are protecting a load of valuable rugs when they are viscously attacked.  Ian and Jamie fight valiantly and soon find themselves on a new mission, protecting their Jewish client’s most valuable possession, his beautiful granddaughter, Rebekah and a priceless scroll on her way to her fiancé.  Ian and Jamie soon find that they are in for more than they bargained and that Rebekah is not all that she seems.

I loved this short story by one of my favorite authors.  It was a strong, fascinating story about Jamie before Claire.  It also perhaps solved part of the mystery from Echo in the Bone of who the mystery woman was from Jamie’s time in France.  It made me further resolve that I need to reread the series and put it all together!  This story is worth a read from fans of the Outlander series as well people looking for a darn good story.  I need to read the rest of the stories in Dangerous Women, but I will leave that for another time.

Book Source:  I bought this from Amazon.com for my husband for Christmas