Outlander and the Real Jacobites: Scotland's Fight for the Stuarts by Shona Kinsella

I would like to thank the author and Pen and Sword for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review

Publisher – Pen and Sword

Published – Out Now

Price – £20 hardback

Outlander has brought the story of the 1745 Jacobite uprising to the popular imagination, but who were the Jacobites, really? Explore this pivotal moment in Scottish history, visiting some of the key locations from Jamie and Claire’s travels. Discover what clan life was really like, read about medicine in the 1700s and find out whether the red coats were really as bad as Jack Randall. Meet Bonnie Prince Charlie and explore how he managed to inspire an uprising from France and then storm England with a force of no more than 5,000 soldiers. Witness the battle of Culloden and what really happened there, before exploring the aftermath of this final attempt for a Stuart restoration.

One of the interesting aspects of history is finding out the reality of a story. Even your own country will have surprises. Being from the English side of the UK I’m conscious that our own history has been tweaked to give us a certain focus and little is made of the periods of turmoil the country has faced. One area I definitely didn’t get much information on at school was the Jacobite Rebellion and what this was caused by and led to. Happily, Shona Kinsella has given us a history book building upon the storylines of the Outlander novels and TV series so that Outlander and The Real Jacobites: Scotland’s Fight For The Stuarts gave me some much needed perspective on this fascinating piece of history.

I confess not having watched Outlander or read the books by Diana Gabaldon, but I do enjoy a good history book and I’m aware of Kinsella’s skill as a writer from their fantasy work so was intrigued how their non-fiction would work. What we get is a smart overlay explaining some key details of the outlander series where an English woman from the 1940s finds herself in Scotland just as the Jacobites are preparing to fight for the throne.

Before we get into the main plot Kinsella does a great piece of scene setting. We get an explanation of the clan structure of the period; the role of women, the superstitions of the time and gives us a sense of what people were like. Kinsella’s storytelling really works here and its clear that Outlander has too paid attention as Kinsella is very approving of the way things were portrayed. What I also liked is the political scene setting. I was quite ignorant that Jacobite simply meant a supporter of King James! But what also struck me is this whole period is another part of the long running Catholic Vs Protestant battles that schoolbooks love to focus on in English Tudor times but ignores this later part of the tale. It’s another tense and uncertain time with forces across Europe taking an interest and this was clearly a major issue of the time.

Using the novels as a timeframe we are walked through the steps that will lead to the rise of Bonnie Prince Charlie, the rebellion first rising in Scotland then a final attempt on the English throne that will end in Culloden and its aftermath. Fans of intrigue will see this as a time of intrigue, spies, and battles with a good mix of exploring some of the flawed personalities within the leadership and also an interesting case of asking what if the Jacobites had simply decided to keep in Scotland rather than continue southwards to England; Kinsella wonders what the history of the UK would have been like. But we know this will not be the case and the ending is poignant as we see the final battles, the trials and executions plus the Highland Clearances all follow to their inevitable conclusions which also have left a mark on the world.

This was a very enjoyable and informative read that really helped me understand a period of my own country’s history I knew little about and does help give a context to our current world too. Very much recommended to history fans!