So, Songs of Love and Death is an anthology that came out almost a year ago and I finally received a copy of it from Paperbackswap. I’ve been wanting this book just to read one little 40-page novella in it – A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows by Diana Gabaldon because it’s Outlander-related. So I’m sorry, but if you haven’t read the Outlander series this really isn’t going to interest you. For the very few readers I have that like the series as much as I do – enjoy! (But keep in mind, there may be a couple spoilers here cause it’s only 40 pages long…)
So this is the star-crossed love story of Roger Wakefield’s (AKA Roger MacKenzie’s) parents, Jerry and Marjorie MacKenzie. Jerry as we already knew was an air pilot. In this short story, he’s training for a special mission when something goes terribly awry and he ends up near a circle of standing stones. Now he’s stuck in what he thinks must be the past and is trying desperately to find a way home, when he runs into two strangers…
So I’m not going to ruin the ending for you, but this was a really good, sad story about Roger’s parents. You can see certain characteristics in Jerry that we’re familiar with in Roger. We also get a glimpse of Frank Randall (Claire’s first husband) and learn a little about what he did in the war. There is also a BIG GIANT HINT of something that is likely to occur in the 8th book (which I believe will be called Written in My Own Heart’s Blood) and ohmygod I can’t wait until it comes out. Sadly though it’ll be at least another two years.
Reading this and enjoying it so much has made me realize that I really need to find and collect ALL of the anthologies that Diana includes short Outlander-related stories in. And there are a ton, but they’re usually worth reading.
Outlander fans, as long as you’re caught up on the series then I highly recommend find a copy of this anthology and reading the novella.
Other readers – I may browse through the rest of this anthology, and if I read any of the other novellas I’ll post reviews for those too.
Sarah Says: 5 stars! And that’s a lot for such a short story 
