Feisty heroine Claire Beauchamp serves as the narrator of Outlander. While Claire begins the book as the ambivalent, slightly bored, and possibly barren wife of a scholar accustomed to a more face-paced life, she ends the book as the pregnant wife of a landed yet outlawed Scottish gentleman and warrior, Jamie Fraser. Though strong-willed, adventurous, and irreverent from the book’s first pages, as Frank’s wife, Claire looks forward to a quiet domestic life in Oxford, the first time in her life that she has a stable home. However, when she travels back in time to Scotland of 1743, then marries and falls in love with the strapping and strong-willed Scot Jamie Fraser, Claire’s life becomes less predictable once again.

Claire is defined by her frankness, her quick wit and intelligence, and her skills in healing and medicine. Together, these characteristics get her out of many dangerous situations. Her healing powers, based on her experience as a nurse in World War II, prepare her for the often-severe living conditions and ailments of the 18th century; Not much can turn Claire’s stomach. Therefore, Claire’s ability to heal and practice medicine become her source of power while surviving in Scotland in 1743. Her skills are a form of social currency when she first encounters Dougal, Jamie, and the rest of the Scottish clansman, as they witness how expertly she attends to Jamie’s hurt arm.