A prequel to the Outlander series will be published as an e-book novella this week.

Virgins is a standalone story that will feature “all the trademark suspense, adventure and history” of the Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander novels, as a young Jamie Fraser “learns what it really means to become a man”.

Mourning the death of his father and gravely injured at the hands of the English, Fraser finds himself running with a band of mercenaries in the French countryside, where he reconnects with his old friend Ian Murray.

Both are nursing wounds and both are still virgins. But Jamie’s love life becomes more complicated – and dangerous – when a Jewish doctor hires them to escort two “priceless treasures” to Paris.

Virgins will be published as an e-book on April 8th. Season two of Outlander begins in the UK on Amazon Prime on April 10th.