33 days, 16 hours, 32 minutes and counting. The fans are waiting...

The wait is on for the release of An Echo in the Bone, (Orion, $39.99 RRP) the latest installment in Diana Gabaldon’s epic Outlander series (also known here as the Cross Stitch saga), which hits bookstores on Thursday September 24, 2009.

The books chart the adventures of time travelling nurse Claire and her Scottish highlander husband Jamie and are loved by millions of fans the world over. New Zealanders are no exception.

In fact the series, which consistently makes Top 100 must-read lists here, is so adored by Kiwis that we number amongst Diana’s biggest supporters. This is no mean feat considering New York Times bestseller Diana (pic right) has sold more than 18 million copies of her books worldwide.

An Echo in the Bone is the seventh chapter in this ongoing series and fans have been waiting four long years for its publication.

In the wake of a devastating fire in the mountains of North Carolina, highlander Jamie Fraser and his English wife Claire find themselves homeless and without family in the midst of the growing storm of revolution.
Thanks to his wife’s travels through time, Jamie knows what the coming spring of 1778 will bring when the snows melt and warfare resumes. But if the tide of history cannot be changed, there is one thing Jamie must avoid at all costs: facing his son across the barrel of a gun.
The only safety is in returning to his native land, but between the mountains of North Carolina and the Scottish Highlands lie blockades, battlefields, storms, shipwrecks and politics. And even if they do reach home unscathed, what is waiting for them there may be the gravest danger of all.

Diana will be touring New Zealand from November 2 – 6