In her much-anticipated new novel, theNew York Timesbestselling author of the Outlander saga brings back one of her most compelling characters: Lord John Grey—soldier, gentleman, and no mean hand with a blade. Here Diana Gabaldon brilliantly weaves together the strands of Lord John’s secret and public lives—a shattering family mystery, a love affair with potentially disastrous consequences, and a war that stretches from the Old World to the New. . . .In 1758, in the heart of the Seven Years’ War, Britain fights by the side of Prussia in the Rhineland. For Lord John and his titled brother Hal, the battlefield will be a welcome respite from the torturous mystery that burns poisonously in their family’s history. Seventeen years earlier, Lord John’s late father, the Duke of Pardloe, was found dead, a pistol in his hand and accusations of his role as a Jacobite agent staining forever a family’s honor.Now unlaid ghosts from the past are stirring. Lord John’s brother has mysteriously received a page of their late father’s missing diary. Someone is taunting the Grey family with secrets from the grave, but Hal, with secrets of his own, refuses to pursue the matter and orders his brother to do likewise. Frustrated, John turns to a man who has been both his prisoner and his confessor: the Scottish Jacobite James Fraser.Fraser can tell many secrets—and withhold many others. But war, a forbidden affair, and Fraser’s own secrets will complicate Lord John’s quest. Until James Fraser yields the missing piece of an astounding puzzle—and Lord John, caught between his courage and his conscience, must decide whether his family’s honor is worth his life.From the Hardcover edition.From BooklistWoodman masterfully reads Gabaldon’s latest historical mystery. His light British accent and occasionally delicate tones make protagonist Lord John Grey’s rare bouts of passion and anger seem even more profound. Grey’s regiment is wintering in London, and his mother’s upcoming marriage rekindles an old mystery about his father’s death. Grey’s investigation leads him to Hellwater, where Scottish Jacobite James Fraser is being held on parole. Woodman reads Fraser’s lines with a light and occasionally ferocious Scottish accent, reminding listeners of his prisoner status. From Irish soldier hooligans to Grey’s Prussian friends, the characters receive distinct treatments. Listeners may find some provocative homosexual sex scenes a bit disturbing, but this shouldn’t bother Gabaldon’s legion of fans. --Jessica MoyerReview“Gabaldon provides a rich, abundantly researched, entirely readable portrait of life among the English upper classes in the 1750s. From London’s literary salons and political intrigue to fearsome battle scenes in the Seven Years’ War, her writing is always vivid and often lyrical.” —The Washington Post