The Fiery Cross

by Diana Gabaldon Book 5 in the Outlander series.

First published 2001

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4.6(43,128)

In 1770, the Fraser family gathers with settlers and relatives as unrest spreads through the North Carolina backcountry. Governor William Tryon orders Jamie to raise a militia against the Regulators, placing him between his obligations to the Crown and his knowledge that revolution is approaching. Family disputes, political violence and the Battle of Alamance test the fragile community being built at Fraser’s Ridge.

Jamie’s position is particularly difficult because he knows the colonial rebellion will eventually become a revolution, yet he still holds land and authority under the Crown. Raising militia against the Regulators forces him to act inside a political order he expects to fail. Family life at Fraser’s Ridge gives those decisions immediate consequences for tenants, relatives and neighbours.