Outlander 1
Diana Gabaldon
Summary from SuperSummary
PART ONE
1. Claire Beauchamp and her husband of eight years, Frank Randall, are on vacation in Inverness in Scotland, a second honeymoon that they hope will allow them to reconnect after being separated for years during World War II. Claire had been a nurse while Frank had been in Officers Training and a part of the Intelligence Unit at M16; however, Claire is unclear what Frank actually did in the war. Frank is a historian and professor who has recently accepted a permanent position at Oxford University. While admiring a vase in a shop window, Claire reflects that Oxford will be the couple’s “first real home” (16). The couple are trying to have a baby. Frank is deeply interested in Scottish history. While in Inverness, Frank researches an ancestor, Jack Randall. Upon seeing blood stains at the doorsteps of several local homes, Frank ascertains that the blood is part of an old superstitious house-cleansing ritual in the Scottish Highlands. One evening, Frank meets a local historian about the history of the area while Claire stays home. A storm picks up. When Frank returns home, he reveals that he thinks he just saw a ghost—a strapping man dressed in a customary Scottish kilt. Frank recalls that, though the wind was blowing, the man’s clothes did not move. Frank reports that the man had been staring at the window where Claire was standing. While lying in bed, Frank quietly speculates that the man had been a former lover of Claire’s. He tells her that he would forgive her if she had had an affair during the war. Claire becomes offended, maintaining that she would never do such a thing. Only after the argument does Claire wonder if Frank had been alluding to his own infidelity.
2. Having taken an interest in botany, an elderly local man named Mr. Crook takes Claire on a tour of local plants. They come across a hill called Craigh na Dun, where there is a miniature stone henge. When Claire asks Mr. Crook if there is something special about Craigh na Dun, Mr. Crook avoids the question. Claire visits the vicarage, where Frank is studying local history with Reverend Wakefield. Frank learns that his ancestor Jack Randall had been involved in Jacobinism in the 1750s, a movement that attempted to restore James Francis Edward Stuart to the British throne and caused significant conflict between the British and the Scottish. Reverend Wakefield’s housekeeper Mrs. Graham reads Claire’s tea leaves and palm. She tells her that her marriage line is divided, insinuating several marriages. However, while these lines are usually broken, Claire’s lines are forked. Mrs. Graham teases Claire, asking her pointblank if she’s a bigamist. Claire asks Mrs. Graham if she can tell her whether she will have children. Mrs. Graham tells her that lines indicating children do not usually appear on the palm until one has already had children. At the vicarage, Claire meets Reverend Wakefield’s adopted son Roger, for whom Wakefield has created a family chart. “I didn’t want him to forget his own family, you see,” Roger admits gingerly, “It’s quite an old lineage, back to the sixteen hundreds […] I didn’t want him to forget where he came from” (56-57). Claire brings up the possibility of adopting a child with Frank, who flatly refuses because he believes he could not love a child that was not his by blood. Frank and Claire take a trip to Craigh na Dun to secretly observe a Druid ceremony. Claire notices a deep blue flower that she returns the next day to inspect. Claire draws closer to the rocks to inspect a strange humming sound. The stones begin to shout, and Claire hears the cries of battle. Her vision blurs, and when she wakes up again, she is at the bottom of the hill. She hears the noise of human conflict it the distance and follows it.
3. Claire stumbles into a fight between the English, or the “redcoats” and the Scottish (77). She assumes the men are actors shooting a film. Claire is captured by a man in the woods, who later reveals himself to be Jack Randall, Frank’s ancestor. His hair and build bear a resemblance to Frank that startles Claire. Randall makes a sexual advance at Claire and asks her if she is a sex worker. A Scottish man rescues Claire from Randall and takes her back to his group, who is staying in a stone cottage. Her rescuer, now turned captor, a man called Murtagh, calls her a “Sassenach wench,” meaning an English woman, which immediately draws suspicion from Murtagh’s peers, who wonder if she is an English spy (88). Claire notices that all the men are kilted, which is not typical for Scottish dress in 1945. Claire intercepts the men trying and failing to force a young man’s shoulder back into its joint. Pushing the men aside, Claire successfully puts the young man’s shoulder into its socket. He then gratefully introduces himself as Jamie. Outside, Claire notices the beauty of the stars due to the lack of city lights. Noticing Claire shivering, Jamie covers her with his shawl. As Claire travels with the men, she slowly realizes she has travelled back in time. Jamie is wounded in another battle with the English and Claire again nurses him back to health.
4. Claire and the rest of the clansman arrive at Castle Leoch, which Claire remembers from visiting it in 1945. Claire meets Mrs. Fitz, a skilled nurse herself. Mrs. Fitz and Claire attend to Jamie’s wounds. Jamie tells Claire that the scars on his back come from a beating by the British captain Jack Randall. Jamie tells Claire that Randall attempted to rape his sister Jenny. Claire sobs at her reality of being stuck in 1743, and Jamie comforts her. Claire understands why Jamie is so good with horses. Jamie insists that she go to bed, and Claire falls asleep inside a mound of quilts.
5. Claire is summoned to meet Colum MacKenzie, the owner of the castle. Claire realizes from her study of history that Castle Leoch is a Scottish stronghold the British would not dare to try to penetrate. Claire notes Colum’s bowed legs and ascertains that he suffers from Toulouse Lautrec Syndrome. She also sees that Colum looks very much like his brother Dougal, one of the clansmen that Claire traveled with. Colum questions Claire on her background. Claire says that she is a widower from Oxfordforshire who was attacked by Captain Randall on her way to visit relatives in France. When Colum briefly exits the room, Claire rummages through Colum’s library and finds a letter dated April 20, 1743, confirming Claire’s suspicion that she has travelled through time. Colum dismisses Claire, though Claire gleans that he is still wary of her. “Colum didn’t say the next words,” Claire reflects, “but he might as well have. They hung in the air behind me as clearly as though spoken, as I walked away. ‘Until I find out who you really are’” (146).
PART TWO
6. Claire attends dinner at Colum’s castle for the first time. The dinner part consists of about forty people, with ten attending them. Colum is seated by his wife Letitia and his son Hamish. Claire notes that Hamish looks more like Colum’s brother Dougal than Colum. Dougal is seated with his teenage daughters, Margaret and Eleanor. Colum inquires after Jamie. Dougal tells him that he sent Jamie down to the stables. “Aye, well…ye trust him so far?” Colum asks Dougal, raising Claire’s suspicions about the relationship between Colum, Dougal, and Jamie (152). She later finds out that Jamie is Colum and Dougal’s nephew. Claire resolves to find Jamie in the morning to check his wounds. The next day, Claire attends “Hall,” a public forum in which Colum dispenses justice by hearing cases and settling disputes. Cases are presented both in English and Gaelic, the Celtic language of Scotland. Claire is surprised to find herself one of the cases. As her captor, Dougal makes the case for Claire to stay at the castle for refuge until her English connections are found. Douglas says the word “English” with a hint of irony. Claire gleans that she is being “tolerated but held under suspicion” (158). Instead of telling them the truth, Claire had told the men that she had been on her way to visit relatives in France when she was attacked by Randall. Colum agrees and offers his hospitality. A burly man drags in a young girl in front of Colum. The man, her father, accuses his 16-year-old daughter, Laoghaire, of being too flirtatious and requests that she be publicly beaten by Angus, a giant appointed to dole out punishment on Colum’s behalf. Jamie steps in and offers to take Laoghaire’s punishment for her, and Colum agrees. Mrs. Fitz, the castle healer, notes to Claire that it is permissible for a man of one’s own clan to accept punishment on one’s behalf, but in this case Jamie is outside of the clan, meaning that he is not a MacKenzie. Mrs. Fitz points to Jamie’s tartan, which is brown and blue and not the MacKenzie green. Angus beats Jamie. Later, Claire asks Jamie why he took the beating for Laoghaire. Jamie answers that she is very young and that it would have negatively affected her reputation much more than his as a property-less outlaw. Claire watches Laoghaire flow as she passes Jamie and notices the beauty of Laoghaire’s blue eyes and rose-petal skin. While Jamie takes up work as the new horse-breaker, Claire becomes occupied first with gardening. At lunch, Claire takes Jamie some food as an excuse to check his injured shoulder. Jamie tells Claire of a winter in which he went three days without food. Engaged in conversation, Claire forgets to check Jamie’s shoulder.
7. Colum summons Claire and asks her to be the community healer in place of the late Davie Beaton. Claire realizes that Colum is not a man she can easily refuse. With great effort due to his bowed legs, Colum leads Claire to Beaton’s office. Claire suggests massage for Colum’s leg pain. Claire notes that she is being watched for signs that she will escape. In Beaton’s office, Claire realizes she is alone for the first time. She tries to remember how she travelled back to the past. She wonders if the stones she heard screaming were a door or a crack in time. She realizes that she recalls a few details of her journey, such as the feeling of a current she was fighting to get to the surface of. She wonders if she actually chose to come to this particular time. Her thoughts are interrupted by two teenage girls, who tell her there is food in the kitchen for her. Claire brings Jamie lunch again. She realizes that he is upper class and well educated. He tells her that the English have a ransom out for him for murder. However, Jamie claims that he did not kill the man they say he did. Claire witnesses Jamie “shift his shoulders, as though rubbing against some invisible wall,” which she has seen him do several times before (187). Jamie continues by telling him of his escape from the English stronghold Fort William after being flogged twice and falling into a fever as a result. He mentions Jack Randall. Jamie explains that he does not stray too far from the castle for fear of being captured by the English border patrol, the Watch. He also divulges that at one point he had sought refuge with monks in France, where he recovered from the lashes on his back. Jamie admits to still having headaches as a result of the injury. Alec McMahon MacKenzie, the Master of Horse at the Castle Leoch, interrupts the conversation. Alec asks Jamie is he has made a decision about an event called the Gathering. Jamie replied, “[…] kiss the iron and change my name to MacKenzie, and forswear all I’m born to? Nay, I canna make up my mind to it” (193). Alec replies that Jamie is still kin to the MacKenzies. He also alludes to a union between Jamie and Laoghaire. Jamie defensively answers that there is nothing going on between he and Laoghaire. Alec mentions that Jamie looks like his father, Black Brian. Claire tries to attend to Jamie’s wound, but Jamie refuses to let her examine it, claiming that he needs to go back to work and telling her she can check it after supper. Back at Beaton’s office, Claire attends to two wounded young men and realizes she is truly now the new physician of Castle Leoch.
8. In her room, Claire reflects on her new role as physician and her pleasure in being able to relieve pain once more. She feels grateful for Colum for giving her the role. Claire identifies Colum’s ailment as a degenerative disease of the bone and connective tissue called Toulouse-Lautrec syndrome. The symptoms include pasty, wrinkled skin, dryness, twisted and bowed bones, low white-cell count, and sterility and impotency. Claire concludes that Letitia must have had an affair to conceive Hamish. That evening at the Hall, Colum gives Claire a strong wine called Rhenish. Claire assesses that both Colum and Dougal are attractive men. Claire takes a seat near Laoghaire to watch Gwyllyn the bard. Noticing Laoghaire’s attentions toward Jamie, Claire waves Jamie over to sit with them. Jamie tells Claire that he spent a year at Castle Leoch as a teenager. Laoghaire pipes up that she remembers Jamie. Jamie dismisses the comment, noting that she would not have been more than seven or eight at the time. Claire knows that Jamie did not mean to offend Laoghaire, still Laoghaire looks hurt. Jamie displaces Laoghaire by offering Claire a better view. After Jamie translates a love song for Claire, Claire asks Jamie if he would marry without money or marry a girl without it. Jamie replies that since he has no money, he would be lucky if any woman married him. Jamie sips the wine Colum gave Claire and laughs at its strength. Claire gleans that Colum was trying to get her drunk to find out more about her background. While hearing the folk songs, Claire realizes that many Scottish Highland stories use the time frame of 200 years. She calculates that this is more of less the time gap between the time she is in and the era she left. She also notes that in the stories, the travelers always return, and allows herself to hope that she could perhaps return to 1945 if she returns to the stones at Craigh na Dun. Jamie escorts Claire to her chamber, where he follows her in. Claire soon realizes that he intends to show her his wounds. Claire asks Jamie why he didn’t allow her to examine him earlier. He admits that he didn’t want Alec to see the damage to his back from the British floggings. Though Jamie knew that Alec was aware of his scars, Jamie maintains that, “[…] to know something like that is no the same as seein’ it wi’ your own eyes […] if he were to see the scars, he couldna see me anymore without thinking of my back” (219). Claire admits that, looking at Jamie’s back, she can’t help but think about the situation in which Jamie got the scars. After an intimate moment, Jamie invites Claire to the stables the next day to see a newborn foal. The next morning, Claire stumbles across Jamie kissing Laoghaire. Claire teases Jamie about it at dinner, asking him if his swollen lip is due to a horse thumping him. Jamie claims to have bit his tongue and excuses himself from dinner. Alec scolds Claire for teasing Jamie. He claims that Jamie needs a woman and not a girl, and that Laoghaire will be a girl even when she is fifty. He claims that Claire also knows the difference between a woman and a girl. Claire goes to bed contemplating this remark.
9. Claire’s life at Castle Leoch becomes routine. She sees patients, works in the garden, visits the stables, and sometimes dines with the MacKenzie community in the great hall. Claire becomes friendly with some of the women in the community, who invite her fruit picking. From them, she gathers that the Gathering Alec mentioned to Jamie is an important event. Claire befriends an herbalist named Geillis Duncan. Geillis tells Claire that some of the village women and girls come to her to treat them with an herb that aborts pregnancy. Geillis admits to marrying her husband Arthur for the practicalities of his money and land. She gossips that Colum’s son Hamish is actually Jamie’s son. Another new friend, Magdalen, accidentally tells Claire that Colum is watching Claire closely because she is English. On a trip to the nearby village of Cranesmuir with Geillis and Dougal, Claire witnesses the public punishment of a 12-year-old boy for stealing. Claire implores Geillis to speak to her husband on the boy’s behalf, and Geillis agrees. While Geillis is gone, Claire reflects on the “pitiless justice” of human atrocity (241). In her own time, she wondered how the Germans allowed the Holocaust to happen. Faced with her own complacency, Claire begins to understand. Geillis returns, reporting that the boy had already confessed when she arrived and that her interference had only lightened the boy’s punishment to one hour in the pillory and one ear nailed to the pillory. Jamie arrives to take Claire back to the castle on Colum’s orders. Claire asks Jamie if the boy is still at the pillory. He says he is and informs her that the boy is to tear his ear loose from the nail in order to set himself free. Claire asks Jamie to help her free the boy. While Claire distracts the crowd, Jamie wrenches the boy’s head free. Claire feels that this shared experience between she and Jamie strengthens their friendship.
10. Claire finds herself excited on the day of The Gathering, an oath-taking in which the men of the MacKenzie clan make their oaths of allegiance to Colum. During her time at the castle, Claire has managed to stow away several days’ worth of provisions that can see her through her escape. However, as she approaches the stables to steal a horse, her plans for escape are thwarted by Jamie. Jamie coolly informs Claire that even if she had escaped, she would not have gotten very far since Colum has hired guards to keep watch in the castle and in the woods. Jamie admits that he is hiding in the stables to avoid having to swear allegiance to Colum. The pair is interrupted by the sudden appearance of three drunk MacKenzie men, who noisily usher Jamie and Claire to the Gathering. Claire tries to whisper an apology for roping Jamie into attending the Gathering, but he waves her away, saying that his choice to pledge allegiance to the MacKenzie clan or not would have had to be made eventually. He shares with Claire that his family clan’s motto is the French phrase Je suis prest, or, “I am ready” (263). When it is time for Jamie to come before Colum, instead of swearing his allegiance, he bows deeply then looks Colum straight in the face and says that he comes to Colum as a friend and ally, but that he shall keep his family name. He vows to give his “obedience, as kinsman and as laird” (269). After a pause, Colum accepts Jamie’s offer of friendship and goodwill as an ally of the MacKenzie clan. Mrs. Fitz clears all the women out of the hall while the men get drunker and therefore more dangerous. Claire takes a wrong turn on the way back to her room and runs into a pack of rowdy MacKenzie clansmen who attempt to sexually accost her. Dougal steps in at the last minute. Without warning, he kisses her, then releases her, instructing her to go back to her room before she pays a “greater price” for his rescue (274). The next morning, the MacKenzie men go boar hunting. A man by the name of Geordie is maimed by a boar. When Claire arrives to treat Geordie, she sees the wound is too great and Geordie will die. To spare Geordie a drawn out death, Dougal unties his bandages so that Geordie bleeds to death, which Claire concludes would have been a “better death […] to die cleanly under the sky” (280). Dougal turns to Claire and ascertains out loud that she has seen men die before. The following afternoon, Claire stumbles upon a conversation between Jamie and Dougal in the stables. Dougal announces that he will be taking Jamie and Claire with him to collect rent from tenants through the MacKenzie lands. Dougal tells Claire he will take her to Fort William so she may attempt to contact her relatives in France. Claire suspects that the trip to Fort William is also an attempt on Dougal’s part to find out further information about who she is. Still, Claire sees the trip as an opportunity to find her way back to the stones of Craigh na Dun, and from there, home.
PART 3
11. Claire learns more about the MacKenzie clan’s history after meeting Colum’s solicitor Ned Gowan on the journey with Ned, Dougal, and Jamie to collect rent throughout MacKenzie lands. Dougal displays Jamie’s horrendous back scars, wounds inflicted at the hands of the British, to raise money for the Jacobite cause. Claire grows angry at the way Dougal exploits Jamie. Feeling used, Jamie lashes out at a passerby who makes a personal remark to him and gets into a nasty fight. Afterwards, Claire tends to Jamie’s wounds. She asks Jamie how he learned to fight so well. He replies that his father taught him. Claire comments that Jamie’s father must be proud of him. Jamie tells Claire that his father is no longer alive. Claire and Jamie are interrupted by Murtagh. Claire gleans that Murtagh has brought Jamie a new piece of information. She suspects the news is about the mysterious Horrocks.
12. On the way to Fort Williams, the party spends the night at an inn where Claire has a private room. After investigating a strange noise, Claire bumps into Jamie, who is sleeping outside of her door. He explains that he chose to sleep there in case any drunken English soldiers try to break into Claire’s room and sexually accost her. Claire invites Jamie to sleep on her floor to avoid the cold, but he refuses, claiming that it would ruin her reputation. The group arrives at Fort William. Claire realizes that she has been with the MacKenzie clan for one month and expresses remorse at not being able to properly say goodbye to Jamie. Dougal presents Claire to the garrison commander, who is Captain Jonathan Randall. Captain Randall begins to interrogate Claire, telling her that Colum thinks she is an English spy. Claire admits to nothing. Claire notes how similar Randall’s face is to Frank’s. The similarity unnerves her. Claire and Randall verbally spar. Claire does not hide her contempt for Randall. Captain Randall warns Claire that her “frivolous attitude” will not help her situation (334). He hits Claire in the stomach, casually stating, “I hope you are not with child, Madam […] because if you are, you won’t be for long” (337). Randall asks Claire is she has anything to tell him. She replies that his wig is crooked.
13. When Dougal realizes that Claire has been beaten by Captain Randall, he gets into a private argument with Randall before storming out of Fort William with Claire. Dougal tells Claire about witnessing Jamie’s bravery while being nearly flogged to death by Captain Randall. Dougal informs Claire that since she is an English subject, Randall has the right to take her in for questioning. However, Dougal posits, if Claire marries a Scotsman, Randall’s right to question her would be revoked. Dougal instructs Claire to marry Jamie. After initially refusing, Claire considers the benefits of marrying Jamie; He would know how to get her to Craigh na Dun, and thus back home to 1945 and to Frank. Dougal presents Claire with a contract of marriage. She asks Dougal if Jamie wants to marry her. Dougal replies, “Jamie’s a soldier; he’ll do as he’s told” (360). Outraged, Claire demands to speak to Jamie. Claire asks Jamie if he has any other marriage prospects. Jamie replies no since there is a price on his head and no father would want his daughter married to a man who could be arrested and hanged at any time. Claire asks him if he minds that she is not a virgin. Jamie replies no, so long as Claire does not mind that he is a virgin. After the marriage papers are signed, Claire gets drunk in the inn’s taproom and must be escorted to her room.
14. The morning after her drunken night, Claire is woken up abruptly by the inn owner’s wife. On the wedding day, Claire is stunned by Jamie’s beauty. His red hair is brushed smooth. Jamie wears his Fraser clan colors of crimson and black instead of the MacKenzie green and white. Dougal grows angry at Jamie, demanding to know what happens if someone were to see him. Jamie replies that the marriage would not be legal if he did not wed under his own name. Jamie gives Claire his mother’s pearls as a wedding present. When Claire reaches the chapel, she realizes that it is the same one she married Frank in 200 years into the future. Jamie tells Claire that his full name is James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser. At the altar, Claire notices that Jamie is equally nervous and is reassured by this. Claire reflects that her wedding would have looked like any “merry wedding party” if not for the fact that everyone in attendance except her were men (376). Once alone in their bridal chamber, Jamie shyly clarifies to Claire that their marriage is not legal until it is consummated.
15. Jamie asks Claire for honesty in their marriage. He vows to protect her with his body and admits that he in part married Claire because he wished to sleep with her. Claire jokes that he did not have to marry her for that. Jamie is scandalized. Jamie reveals to Claire that Dougal and Colum MacKenzie were not pleased with their sister, Jamie’s mother, marrying Jamie’s father since he was a Fraser. Jamie tells Claire of the Fraser property Lallybroch that he is entitled to yet cannot get to on account of his status as an outlaw. Jamie gives Claire more details about his escape from Fort Williams, his subsequent injuries, and his recovery at his uncle Alexander’s Abbey of Ste. Anne de Beaupré on the French coast. Claire asks Jamie why he returned to Scotland if he was safe in France. He dismisses the question and replies that it is a long story he will tell her later. After talking for three hours, Claire runs her hands up Jamie’s thigh and finds his penis is erect. The pair have sex. Jamie admits that he did not know people had sex face-to-face. Claire struggles not to laugh. Jamie relays to Claire that Murtagh, one of the MacKenzie men, had told Jamie that women do not generally care for sex, so he should get it over with quickly. “What does Murtagh know about it?” Claire protests, correcting Jamie that women like sex to be slow (401). Jamie tells Claire that she has good hips for breeding. Claire tries to leave the room to find food but is met with a raucous cheer from a group of MacKenzie clansmen outside. Jamie explains that they are there as witnesses to the consummation of she and Jamie’s marriage. Claire observes that Jamie is too inexperienced and hungry for pleasure to be tender in bed, so she allows him to do what he wants to her while making only a few minor suggestions. She also notices that he has a fierce concern for her safety during sex. Jamie is surprised by Claire’s ability to have multiple orgasms. Claire tries being rough with Jamie as she performs oral sex. Jamie climaxes “[…] with a groan that sounded as though I had torn his heart out by the roots” (408). Claire wakes up before dawn struck with the reality of being married to a stranger in a place “with unseen threat” (409). As Claire drifts back to sleep she wonders about the knife that Jamie sleeps with above his bed, and questions “[…] what threat would make a man sleep armed and watchful in his bridal chamber?” (411)
16. Jamie and Claire take a walk outside of the inn. Jamie reveals to Claire that his sister Jenny had been raped by Randall and bore Randall’s child, according to Dougal. Jamie tells Claire that if he had sworn his oath to Colum at the Gathering and taken the MacKenzie name, Dougal and Colum might have killed him for his proximity to the MacKenzie inheritance. Jamie reveals to Claire that their marriage may have saved his life since, having married an Englishwoman, there is little chance that Jamie can inherit Castle Leoch. Jamie recalls telling his mother that he thought it was the man’s job to choose a spouse, to which his mother had smiled and replied, “You’ll see” (424). Jamie laughs and admits to Claire that his mother was right. Claire realizes that she has known Jamie one month and been married to him for one day. She regrets the inevitability of hurting him when she returns home. Jamie notices that Claire is preoccupied with thoughts of Frank. Claire thinks about the difference between Jamie and Frank; Frank is dark and slender whereas Jamie is muscular and red-headed. As a lover, Frank is “polished, sophisticated, considerate, and skilled” while Jamie, though lacking experience, give all of himself to Claire without reservation (430). Claire marvels at the power of Jamie’s kiss, noting that “[h]is extreme gentleness was in no way tentative; rather it was a promise of power known and held in leash; a challenge and a provocation the more remarkable for its lack of demand” (431). She finds that her body cannot resist him. Jamie confides in Claire that it is a gift to pleasure her sexually and to know that his body can arouse hers. Jamie jokes that he should have warned Claire before she married him that they would be sleeping in haystacks due to his lack of property. Claire and Jamie make love out in the open in a bracken. Claire admits to herself that she had been fighting her attraction to Jamie for some time. She reflects that while married to Frank she had at times felt attracted to other men but never acted upon it. Jamie and Claire engage in more satisfying oral sex. Jamie reveals to Claire that two of his conditions for marrying her had been that they be married in front of a priest and that Claire receive a suitable gown to be wed in. Sheepishly, Jamie admits, “I wanted to make it…as pleasant as might be for you” (437). A group of MacKenzie clansmen give Jamie and Claire money as a wedding present. Back in their room, Jamie calls Claire mo duinne, a term of endearment in Gaelic that means “my brown one.” He admits that he had been longing to call her that for a long time. Claire challenges Jamie’s trust and asks Jamie if he is afraid she will kill him in her sleep. Jamie lays his chest bare for Claire to plunge her dirk, or knife, into if she wishes. He tells her that if she killed him, he would die a happy man.
17. Claire and Jamie leave the inn and head south. Claire asks Jamie what connection he has to Murtagh, and Jamie replies that Murtagh is a Fraser. Jamie tells Claire that his mother died when he was eight. Jamie advises Claire to always hide in the forest if being pursued, as the birds will tell her if there is anyone approaching. Jamie and Claire share with each other that the erotic energy between them is different than with any other partner either has ever had. Jamie describes Claire as “a living flame in my arms” that he wants to be consumed by (453). An arrow lands on the spot that Claire and Jamie stand on. At first thinking it is an attack from the English, Jamie soon realizes that it is a signal from his friend, Hugh Munro. Claire meets Jamie’s friend Hugh Munro, whose tongue was cut out as a captive of the Turks at sea. Munro has been collecting information for Jamie about the English deserter Horrocks’s whereabouts. Jamie believes that Horrocks can testify that Jamie did not kill an English officer. Jamie confides that even when he has just left Claire, he still desperately wants her. He shares that making love to her feels like giving his soul to her. Jamie insists on performing oral sex on Claire, who finds that though the act makes her feel helpless and vulnerable, it also gives her an intense orgasm. Jamie jokes that it takes effort to make Claire “properly submissive” (467). Jamie asks Claire, “Does it ever stop, Claire? The wanting” (467). Claire lays her head on Jamie’s chest and replies that she does not know.
18. Dougal informs Claire that Captain Randall has heard of her marriage to Jamie and is not happy about it. However, he assures her that Randall has bigger things to worry about than one stray Englishwoman. Jamie and the rest of the MacKenzie clansman fight off an English raid. Jamie gives Claire a dirk, which she drops during the struggle. As Claire watches the fight, Claire speculates that the English intend to kidnap either Dougal or Jamie for ransom. One of the MacKenzie men is kidnapped, and Dougal curses the price he will have to pay to retrieve him. Back at the campsite that evening, Jamie dismisses the action of the fight, saying that he has been combating English raids since he was 14. The fighting whets Jamie’s sexual appetite. He lifts Claire’s skirt to find Claire slippery. Claire tries to protest on account of the 20 men sleeping nearby. Jamie instructs her to be quiet and that their sexual encounter will not take long. In hindsight, Claire admits that he was right and recalls that she climaxed in less than a dozen of Jamie’s thrusts inside of her. In the morning, Ned returns Claire’s abandoned knife. Dougal observes to Claire that marriage seems to suit Jamie. Claire asks Dougal what Colum will think of she and Jamie’s union, to which Dougal replies that Colum will be pleased to welcome her as a niece. Jamie teaches Claire to wield a knife, though he does not allow her to learn to use a pistol because she is a woman.
19. Claire and the MacKenzie men camp near Loch Ness. Claire marvels at how little the place changed in 200 years. Claire goes to the edge of the loch to wash her face. While sitting by Loch Ness, Claire sees what she thinks is a monster. She recalls seeing a diorama of the beast at the British Museum. Peter, one of the MacKenzie men, sees her observing the monster. Believing her to be a witch, he stammers, “Ha-have mercy, lady,” clutching at the hem of her dress (496). Claire tries to assure Peter that it is only a small monster, but he remains suspicious of her and walks behind her all the way back to camp. Neither Peter nor Claire mention anything about seeing the monster to the rest of their party.
20. Claire and the MacKenzie clansman move north. Jamie shares with Claire that a meeting with Horrocks has been arranged by Munro in four days’ time. Jamie describes the Fraser property Lallybroch’s value as a main point of passage and therefore its integral role in Scottish land control. He explains that Dougal and Colum find themselves in a quandary about whether to keep Jamie alive, as he is both a threat to the MacKenzie leadership and an asset as a Fraser landowner when it comes to war and property management. Jamie confirms that if he died, Lallybroch would be owned by Claire. On a sunny morning, Jamie wonders out loud what Claire would look like on the grass with her skirts above her head. The couple find a secluded glade to make love in. While almost climaxing, Jamie and Claire are attacked by English deserters. When one of them forces himself on Claire, Claire stabs and kills him with her hidden dirk. Jamie kills the other. In the wake of the attack, Claire recalls that Jamie and Claire make love “driven by a compulsion I didn’t understand, but knew we must obey, or be lost to each other forever […] Our only strength lay in fusion, drowning the memories of death and near-rape in the flooding of the senses” (509). Jamie and Claire deal with shock after their attack. While Jamie’s reaction is to talk, Claire’s is to remain silent. Jamie apologies to Claire profusely for putting her in danger. Dougal arrives on the scene and scolds Jamie for making love to his wife and forcing the rest of the men to wait for him. However, he is stopped in his tracks when Claire starts to laugh hysterically, her secondary response to shock. Not wanting to worry about him when Jamie is gone, Claire insists on going with Jamie to meet Horrocks, but he refuses, insisting that it is dangerous for her to be seen out in the open. He threatens her with a beating if she leaves the woods. It dawns on Claire that she had been so preoccupied with fighting with Jamie that she had failed to observe her location, mere miles from the hill of Craigh na Dun. Claire sets off in the direction of Craigh na Dun. As Claire abandons her post, she regrets leaving Jamie without any explanation for her disappearance. She resolves to leave the horse behind so Jamie might think she was killed by wild beasts or kidnapped by outlaws as opposed to having abandoned him. She thinks that this conclusion might allow him to forget her and marry Laoghaire instead. Claire finds the thought of Jamie with Laoghaire upsets her. Claire’s foot slips near the loch’s banks, plunging her into the water. She begins to drown. Claire is pulled up from the water by Corporal Hawkins, one of Captain Randall’s minions.
21. Corporal Hawkins delivers Claire to Captain Randall’s office. Sitting in Randall’s office, Claire is again struck by how much he resembles Frank. When Claire reveals that she knows about Randall’s connection to the Duke of Sandringham as his spy, which Claire remembers from Frank’s historical records, Randall grows angry and threatens Claire at knifepoint to tell him everything she knows. Randall cuts Claire’s dress open so her breasts pop out. As Randall accosts Claire, Claire realizes Randall cannot keep his penis erect enough to rape her without her screaming in distress. Claire resolves to stay quiet. When Jamie unexpectedly arrives, Randall tries to force Jamie to watch him rape Claire. Randall goads Jamie by calling Claire a tasty wench, “just like your sister” (534). Just as Randall is about to rape Claire, Jamie tricks Randall into freeing Claire with an empty revolver. In the midst of their ride back to camp, Jamie takes Claire aside to speak to her privately. He yells that he is tired of having to watch her to make sure she stays out of trouble and especially tired of people trying to force him to watch her being raped. He berates her for leaving the woods after he told her to stay. Claire retorts that the incident was Jamie’s fault for ignoring her and cites Jamie’s lack of respect for women. Jamie fires back that if Claire had stayed where they were then she, he, and the MacKenzies would not now be pursued by 100 or more Englishmen. Jamie adds that he does not know whether to strangle Claire or beat her senseless. Claire responds by trying to kick Jamie in the balls. “Try that again and I’ll slay you ‘til your ears ring,” Jamie warns Claire (542). He then posits that Claire ran away to retaliate against Jamie forcing himself upon her after the attack they faced from the two English deserters. Claire retorts that he only cares about her because as his wife she is his property. She then claims that had it not been for her, both of them would have died at the hands of the English deserters, revealing a resentment against Jamie she did not know she harbored. Jamie softens and responds emotionally that he would kill a dozen men for Claire. Both Jamie and Claire ask each other for forgiveness. Jamie and Claire head back to their party having forgiven each other, though a sense of the mutual injuries still hangs in the air between them.
22. Claire and the MacKenzie men break their journey at an inn in Donnesbury. Claire is given a frosty reception at dinner by the MacKenzie clansman, who are still angry with her for putting them in danger. When Claire and Jamie are alone in their chamber, Jamie purposefully asks Claire if she understands that she risked the men’s lives. He tells her he must flog her as punishment. Claire feels deeply betrayed by Jamie, who up until now she has seen as her friend and protector. Claire finally comes down for breakfast, sore from her painful beating on the backside from Jamie the night before. After the beating, Jamie had not tried to get into bed with Claire. Instead he opted to sleep on the floor. Claire begrudgingly admits that Jamie was right—the MacKenzie clansmen were in a better mood having known that Jamie beat Claire for making them vulnerable to English soldiers. The men try to pat Claire’s behind in mock sympathy for her condition. On their ride, Claire decides to walk her horse instead of riding it since her buttocks are sore. Jamie jumps down from his horse and walks it besides Claire. As they walk, Jamie tells Claire that his father used to beat him and recounts several tales of his childhood mischief. Though Jamie protested his beatings at the time, in hindsight, Jamie believes that his father was in the right for using corporal punishment on him. After briefly stopping to watch a pack of wolves feast on their kill, Jamie and Claire ride to Bargrennan, intent on making it there by dawn. While riding, Jamie reveals to Claire more details about his relationship to Captain Randall as well as the circumstances of Jamie’s father’s death. When Jamie met with Captain Randall, Randall offers to cancel Jamie’s second flogging if Jamie would agree to sleep with Randall. Randall warns Jamie that if Jamie denies him, then Jamie would wish he had never been born. At the time, Jamie contemplated Randall’s proposition, reasoning that being sodomized was probably less painful than flogging. However, Jamie thought of his father and decided he could not be sodomized. Jamie also thinks of how Randall raped his sister and vows that Randall will not have him in addition to her. As a result, Randall flogged Jamie within an inch of his life. Many of the men watching believed Jamie to be dead, including Jamie’s own father, who suffered a fatal heart attack upon watching his son being beaten. Jamie confides in Claire that he feels responsible for his father’s death. Jamie asks Claire if she understands why he needed to beat her. Claire thinks of the weight that Jamie and Randall’s interaction holds and how Jamie might have felt upon seeing her almost raped by Randall. Claire replies that she does understand. However, Claire adds that what she cannot forgive is that Jamie enjoyed beating her. Jamie admits to wanting to have sex with Claire while beating her, though he restrains himself. Claire retorts that Jamie does not deserve praise for refraining from committing rape on top of assault. Jamie asks Claire if she will do him the honor of sharing her bed with him again. Claire replies that if he ever lays hands on her again, she will cut out his heart and fry it for breakfast. Jamie swears to never beat Claire again.
23. In the middle of the night, Claire wakes Jamie to update her on his meeting with Horrocks. Jamie replies that he had met with Horrocks and that Horrocks told him it was Randall himself who killed the English officer. Due to Randall’s authority, there is no way to prove Randall lied about Jamie murdering the officer. Claire suggests the two of them go to France or North America to escape Randall’s persecution. Jamie muses that if he were by himself he would risk his life to stay in Scotland and return to Lallybroch. Claire feels guilty that while Jamie includes her in his future plans, Claire still intends to escape back into the future. Jamie tells Claire that the Duke of Sandringham will soon visit Castle Leoch. Claire and the MacKenzie clan wearily return to Castle Leoch, where the community is shocked to find Jamie and Claire married. On their way into the castle, Jamie asks for his share of the MacKenzie rents, which he is entitled to as a married man. When Claire and Jamie return to their room at Castle Leoch, Claire staggers to bed while Jamie claims to need to run an errand and leaves once more. While Jamie is gone, Claire starts to suspect that Jamie has gone to see Laoghaire to begin an affair. She remembers Jamie’s comment to Dougal about his share of the MacKenzie rents and fears that Jamie has only married her for money. The lack of sleep, hunger, uncertainty, and disappointment reduce Claire to a state of “confused misery,” and she finds herself unable to sleep despite her exhaustion (602). She paces the room until Jamie returns. When Jamie gets back to the room, he seems flushed and excited. Claire accuses Jamie of going to see Laoghaire. Jamie admits to having passed Laoghaire on the stairs, growing increasingly angry at Claire’s accusations. Jamie tries to take Claire to bed, proclaiming, “You’re my wife, and if I want ye, woman, then I’ll have you […]” (606). Claire retorts that if he forces her to have sex with him then he is no better than Captain Randall. Jamie calms down and asks Claire to explain the word “sadist” to him, which Claire used to describe him (608). She replies that it means someone who derives sexual pleasure from hurting others. Jamie agrees with this assessment of him. Claire admits to having overheard Jamie ask Dougal for his share of the MacKenzie rents. Jamie laughingly clarifies that the rents are a very small sum. He produces a ring and explains that he wanted the money so that he could buy Claire a wedding ring right away. The ring is in a Highland interlace style with a Jacobite thistle in the center of each link. Jamie concedes that he and Claire can live apart if she wants. He admits to wanting Claire so much that he can hardly breathe. He asks her if she wants his too and she shares that she does. Before making love to her, Jamie warns Claire that he cannot be gentle. He tells her that she is his. “I mean to use ye hard,” he tells Claire, “I mean to possess you, body and soul” (613). As Claire struggles underneath him, he tells her he intends to make her call him “Master” (614). Claire tells him to stop because he is hurting her. However, Jamie continues, imploring Claire to beg him for mercy. Claire finds that her hips rise to meet Jamie’s. Claire maintains that Jamie’s penetration of her is “a question, repeated over and over in my flesh, demanding an answer” (615). Claire cries out in pleasure. Jamie bites Claire’s neck and Claire rakes her nails over Jamie’s back. Later, neither apologize for the love wounds they have inflicted on one another.
PART FOUR
24. Geillis finds Claire in her physician’s office and asks if Claire would like to go on an expedition to the nearby foothills with her. Claire agrees. Claire tells Geillis about finding the dried plants in her bed, which symbolize an ill-wish. Geillis says she can help Claire find out who sent her the ill-wish. While in the foothills, Claire finds a crying baby, who is clearly ill. Geillis instructs Claire to leave the baby there because the baby is a changeling. Claire starts to go back for the baby. Geillis grows impatient and calls Claire a “pig-headed English ass,” accusing her of putting both of their lives in danger (697). As Claire tries to find the baby, she runs into Jamie, who has come to meet her because night is falling. He too insists that the baby is dead and tells Claire that the changeling folklore is an excuse for grieving parents to mourn their sick child. “[M]aybe it will ease them a bit,” Jamie says of the parents, “to believe that it is the changeling who died, and think of their own child healthy and well, living forever with the fairies” (700). Claire notices the castle lanterns blazing in the distance and Jamie’s fancy dress. Jamie informs her that the duke has arrived. Upon meeting the duke, Claire finds that she enjoys his keen sense of humor. Claire accepts Geillis’s offer to help Claire find out who sent Claire the ill-wish. At Claire’s house, Claire finds a book of magic and Geillis casually admits to practicing magic. Geillis asks Claire to sit quietly and breathe. Geillis mutters in a language Claire cannot understand. Claire finds she cannot move, and it slowly dawns on her that Geillis is hypnotizing her. Geillis asks her who she is and who sent her here. Claire replies that her name is Claire and that she cannot tell Geillis who sent her or why she came because no one would believe her. Geillis’s efforts are interrupted by Geillis’s husband Arthur’s calls to Geillis through the door. He abruptly enters the room in a perturbed manner and sees Geillis in a state of undress. He leaves the room staggering slightly, pushing past Claire as if he does not see her. At a banquet at Castle Leoch later that evening, Colum presents Claire with the MacKenzie badge for her hard work as the community healer. Geillis’s husband Arthur suddenly falls ill and dies. In bed, Jamie asks Claire to stay away from Geillis as she is suspected to be a witch. Claire recalls the trance that Geillis put her in and does not have much desire to visit Geillis. Claire puts her mouth to Jamie’s nipples and the two begin to have sex. Claire gasps and Jamie slackens his hold on her, saying that he did not mean to hurt her, he just wanted to penetrate her in order to leave her with the feeling of him being deep inside of her. Moping about the castle in the wake of Jamie’s departure, Claire bumps into Laoghaire, who tells her that Geillis is unwell and has asked Claire to attend to her. Claire arrives at Geillis’s house, but Geillis is puzzled by her presence. Geillis denies having summoned her. The pair’s conversation is cut short by a strange rumbling sound that only seems to be getting closer.
25. While imprisoned under accusation of witchcraft, Geillis tells Claire that it was Laoghaire who sent the ill-wish to Claire. Geillis admits to having an affair with Dougal and carrying his child and to poisoning her late husband Arthur. Claire gleans that Arthur did not know Geillis was pregnant until he saw her belly as she undressed before the banquet. Claire asks why Geillis committed these acts and Geillis replies that she did it for Scotland because she is a patriot, implying that she too is a Jacobite. This explains why she made an alliance with a powerful man like Dougal. Geillis asks Claire if she loves Jamie, and Claire replies that she does. Geillis and Claire are held in a thieves’ hole. The first day of their trial takes place in the square. Two people testify against Claire—Peter, who saw her witness the monster at the Loch; and Father Bain, who resents Claire for being an Englishwoman and refuses her treatment even though he clearly suffers from blood poisoning. Peter is taken to the pillory because he is assumed to be drunk. During the testimony, Ned Gowan interrupts to offer his legal services to Claire. Claire asks him if Colum sent him, and Ned replies that he had not. After a sleepless night, Claire and Geillis are marched to the square to be judged for witchcraft in front of an angry mob. Claire is instructed to strip, but she refuses. Someone hits her in the stomach and exposes her bare breasts. Jamie interrupts the proceedings and demands that Claire be cut free of the ropes that constrict her. When the judges protest, Jamie replies that he had made an oath to protect Claire under God and questions whether the judges feel they have more authority than God. In a grand performance of witchcraft, Geillis faces the crowd, admits to being a witch, killing her husband, and manipulating Claire. Claire realizes that Geillis plays the part of an evil witch in order to save Claire’s life. Claire notices the smallpox vaccination scar on Geillis’s arm, indicating that Geillis too is from the future. Jamie flings Claire over his saddle like a sack of flour and rides off with her. Claire asks Jamie why he had come back to Castle Leoch. Jamie tells Claire that he had instructed Alec from the stables to watch Claire while Jamie was gone. When the villagers took Claire for the witch trials, Alec had ridden all night to inform Jamie. Jamie asks her if she is a witch. Claire tells Jamie the truth about her past. She tells him she is 28 years old. Jamie realizes that when he had rescued Claire from Fort William she had been trying to get back to Craigh na Dun and to Frank. Jamie confirms that he believes Claire. He then jokes that it would have been easier if Claire’s secret was that she was a witch. Jamie makes love to Claire tenderly. Jamie leads Claire to Craigh na Dun so she may time travel home. Claire puts her hands on the rocks and feels its surge of energy. Jamie does the same, but nothing happens. With pain in his eyes, Jamie says it is time for Claire to return home. Though Claire loves Jamie, she cannot bring herself to tell him so. Instead, Claire gives him a warning. Claire shouts to Jamie to stay out of the Jacobite uprising. She informs him that all the Highlander clans that follow the uprising will be wiped. Claire implores Jamie to stay safe by seeking refuge in France, North America, Spain, or Italy. Jamie agrees and tells her to travel safely before leaving himself. Claire sits in front of the stone without moving for most of the afternoon. She contemplates her duty to Frank as well as the convenience and security of modern life. However, she finds herself taking steps further and further away from the rocks until she is down the hill. Claire returns to the cottage to find Jamie asleep. She watches him for a second before laying down next to him. When he awakens, Jamie kisses Claire so thoroughly that she can hardly breathe. When he asks her why she returned, she replies, “I had to” (789). However, her joy is mixed with her grief over losing Frank, and Claire sobs in Jamie’s arms. Jamie reveals to Claire that it took all his strength not to beg her to stay in 1743 with him. Jamie announces to Claire that the two of them will go back to his home, Lallybroch.
PART FIVE
26. Jamie and Claire arrive at Lallybroch to find Jamie’s beautiful sister Jenny in the drawing room. The Fraser siblings’ reunion is interrupted by Jenny’s small son Jamie, named after her brother. Jamie becomes morose and asks Jenny why she would torment him by naming her son sired by Captain Randall after him. Offended, Jenny insists she was not raped and impregnated by Captain Randall, as Jamie was left to believe. What ensues is a screaming match between the Fraser siblings in which either one is hard-pressed to hear or listen to the other. Amidst the chaos, Claire is introduced to Jenny’s husband and the true father of her children, Ian Murray. Ian suggests that he and Claire give the Fraser siblings a few minutes longer to hash things out. When Ian steps in to confirm his marriage and co-parenthood with Jenny, Jamie, still convinced that Jenny has had the child with Randall, thanks Ian for taking Jenny to be his wife, which infuriates Jenny even further. Jamie shows Jenny the scars on his back and the siblings make amends.
27. Jamie, Jenny, Ian, and Claire share supper together. After an initial awkward period, Claire and Jenny begin to bond. Claire notes that, built in 1702, Lallybroch is very modern for its time. She notices that Lallybroch is a busy place, symbolic of the Scottish work ethic. As Jamie and Claire look at family portraits in Lallybroch, Jamie comes behind her and puts his arms around her. He admits that there was another reason he married her: “Because I wanted you,” he tells her, “[m]ore than I ever wanted anything in my life” (834). Jamie leads Claire to find a haystack. Claire clarifies that he means that he married her for love, and he confirms, reaching for her. The pair are interrupted by Jenny, who jokingly insists that Jamie find a more suitable place to bed his wife. Later, as Jamie and Claire enjoy a moment of fresh air outside, Jamie admits that he did not want to tell Claire he loved her on their wedding day because he did not want to burden her since he knew she did not want to marry him. Jamie reaches for Claire again, saying that he wants her. Claire states that there is a difference between desire and love, and Jamie replies that the two are very similar.
28. Claire escorts Jamie to the mill to inspect a problem. Claire encounters an old widow called Mrs. MacNab, who relays a favor she wants to ask of Jamie. Mrs. MacNab’s son is a drunk, who beats her grandson Rabbie. She wishes to ask Jamie to give Rabbie a job in the Lallybroch stables so that Rabbie can escape the violence of his father. When English soldiers stop by the mill, Jamie must hide under water to avoid them, losing his swimming trunks in the process and forcing him to emerge from the water naked. As Jamie comes out of the water, Mrs. MacNab attempts to repeat her favor request to Jamie, who replies, “Grannie MacNab […] whatever your wish is, I’ll do it. Provided only that ye’ll give me back my shirt before my parts fall off wi cold” (859).
29. After dinner, Jamie, Claire, Ian, and Jenny retire to the drawing room. Ian recalls a time that Jamie’s protests to his father Brian against his and Ian’s corporal punishment, calling it uncivilized, resulted in an even more grueling task: cleaning the 60-foot broch tower from top to bottom, which took the boys five days. Jenny and Claire leave the drawing room to fetch biscuits and port. As Claire comes back down the hall with a tray of refreshments, she overhears a conversation between Ian and Jamie. Ian apologizes for not asking for Jamie’s blessing before marrying Jenny, especially due to his disability. Jamie replies immediately that Jenny could not have found a better husband. Ian and Jamie bond over how much they love their wives. Over port and biscuits, Jenny recalls to Ian, Claire, and Jamie that Jamie was a very sweet baby. She is quick to add that this sweetness did not last long, guessing that Jamie got his first beating when he was seven. Jamie corrects her that he was eight. He recalls what his father told him after his first beating: that sometimes he would enjoy beating Jamie but most times he would not, but either way if Jamie was to get into mischief, his backside was going to pay. Jamie then grows sad, sharing with the group his guilt that witnessing Jamie’s flogging at the hands of Captain Randall killed his father. Jenny corrects him that she was in fact the death of their father. Jenny admits to taunting Randall when he unsuccessfully tried to rape her. In response, Randall hit Jenny’s head against a bedpost, knocking her unconscious. When she awoke, Randall had disappeared with Jamie. Ian grows quiet at this revelation. Jenny tells him that she did not reveal the incident to Ian because she did not want to lose him, especially after losing her father and brother. Jenny concludes that it was her fault that their father died, having agitated Randall into lashing out at Jamie. Jamie replies that their father’s death was not Jenny’s fault and perhaps not his either. Jamie reflects on the positive influence his father had on him. Claire tells Jamie that she was never hit as a child. Jamie jokes, “That accounts for the defects in your character” (874). In the dark, Jamie reminisces about the last beating his father ever gave him.
30. By the following evening, Jenny and Ian have made amends. Ian and Jamie sit in the parlor talking about farm business while Claire helps Jenny write down receipts. At Jamie’s prompting, Jenny describes what it is like to carry a child. In the beginning, Jenny says, one’s skin feels very thin and the tops of one’s breasts are very sensitive. In the last month of pregnancy Jenny attests that her body is hard, round, and “swollen all over” (883). She describes her breasts filling with milk and aching to be suckled. She says that late pregnancy sometimes feels like being penetrated by a man, as if a throbbing deep inside of oneself ripples the walls of one’s womb. Jenny turns and states that men sometimes want to return to the womb during sex. After Jenny and Ian retire to bed, Claire points out that Ian and Jenny forgot small Jamie sleeping by the fire. Jamie replies that Jenny and Ian never forget anything and guesses that they left their son in he and Claire’s care to have some private time in the bedroom together. Jamie reaches for Claire’s bodice despite Claire’s protests about the boy’s presence. Jamie responds that the boy will have to learn his duty as a husband some time or other. Claire asks Jamie if Jenny is right that men have sex with women to seek the safety of the pre-natal womb. Jamie replies, “Sometimes…aye, sometimes it would be good, to be inside again, safe and…one” (886).
31. Claire tells Jenny that she lost the pearls Jamie gave her, which had been Jamie and Jenny’s mother’s. Jamie overhears this and tells Claire that Murtagh had brought the pearls for her. Claire again questions Murtagh’s connection to the Fraser family. Jamie tells Claire the backstory of why he carries a man named Alexander William Roderick MacGregor’s Bible around with him. MacGregor was an 18-year-old fellow prisoner at Fort William, who died by suicide. Jamie recalls that Captain Randall had had a private conversation with the boy the week prior. Jamie suspected Randall of physically or sexually harming MacGregor, driving him to suicide. Jamie carried around MacGregor’s Bible so he could send it back to MacGregor’s mother when he finally avenged MacGregor. Ronald MacNab arrives to Lallybroch with his young son Rabbie. Claire observes that MacNab looks greasy and bedraggled. Rabbie appears scruffy and dirty. In the kitchen, Jenny and Claire feed Rabbie. After taking Rabbie’s clothes off to wash him, Jenny and Claire see the welts and scabs as a result of MacNab’s beatings. Meanwhile, in the study, Jamie asks MacNab to allow Rabbie to work in the stables, a request that MacNab refuses. A while later, Claire witnesses Jamie with his arm slung around MacNab’s neck, heading towards the pig shed. A minute or two later, MacNab and Jamie re-emerge. MacNab’s face is grey, and he walks slowly. He is unable to straighten all the way. Jamie cheerfully informs Rabbie that his father has given him permission to work in the Lallybroch stables. As Claire takes Jamie’s arm to go in to supper, she asks him how he managed to convince MacNab to let Rabbie work. Jamie replies that he took MacNab behind the shed, hit him in his “soft parts,” and asked him if he’d rather part with his son or his liver (908). Jamie reflects on MacNab’s brutal beating of his son Rabbie. Jamie recalls his own father’s beatings, but he wagers that Rabbie would not be able to lay in bed with his wife and joke about MacNab’s beatings as Jamie does with Claire about his. Jamie proclaims, “It’s a damn thin line between justice and brutality, Sassenach. I only hope I’ve come down on the right side of it” (909). Claire ascertains that Jamie was born to be master of Lallybroch. Jamie asks Claire what she was born to do. Claire replies that she was born for Jamie. Jamie tells Claire that he had wanted her from the first time he saw her. Claire tells Jamie that she is afraid that if she tells him she loves him, she will never stop. She tells him she loves him.
32. A few days later, at sunset, Claire notices a change in Jamie’s demeanor. Claire asks Jamie if they will have to leave soon. Jamie replies that they will have to leave within several days as there are English soldiers within 20 miles. After harvesting all day, Jamie and Ian fall asleep in their chairs after supper. Jenny sees Jamie smiling in his sleep and recalls that Jamie used to do the same thing as a small boy. Claire asks Jenny what she thinks it means. Jenny replies, “I imagine it means he’s happy” (914). Jamie and Claire do not leave the next day as planned since Jenny goes into labor. Jenny encounters a complication in delivering her child. Jenny instructs Claire to tell Ian that if the child lives it should be called Margaret Ellen. Claire firmly replies that Jenny will be able to tell Ian herself. Claire helps the midwife to turn the child in Jenny’s womb, and finally the baby arrives. Claire notices how competent Jamie is at holding Jenny’s newborn daughter Margaret. In encountering Ian and Jamie drinking in the study, Claire grows angry, thinking that Ian had gotten drunk in the face of Jenny’s pain. However, upon taking a closer look at Ian’s face, she sees that he has been in emotional torture, believing that his wife would die in childbirth. Jamie tells Claire that she is glad she is barren—a fact divulged to him by Geillis—since she will not have to suffer as Jenny did in childbirth. “I can bear pain myself,” Jamie says softly, “but I couldna bear yours” (924).
33. Jenny recovers quickly from her difficult childbirth and is soon back to work at Lallybroch. Small Jamie helps Claire to garden. Ian returns to the house, tattered and dirty, relaying that he and Jamie had been attacked by the English Watch and Jamie has been kidnapped. Jenny instructs Claire to attend to Ian’s wounds while she gives the baby to the housekeeper and fetches the horses for the two of them to find Jamie. Claire exclaims to Ian that Jenny cannot possibly leave her baby. Ian replies that Jenny also will not stand to see the English hang her brother. Jenny and Claire reach the spot that Jamie and Ian were ambushed by the English Watch. Jenny makes a camp for her and Claire, claiming that she learned these skills from Ian and Jamie when they were growing up. Jenny expels the milk from her breast, sighing that it is a shame to waste it. Jenny comments that she will have to go home soon to take care of her newborn. Jenny exclaims that having children is a nuisance, but, “ye’d never choose not to have them” (930). Claire confirms this. Jenny comforts Claire that Claire will one day have her own children. Claire recalls that Jenny was right, they did find the Watch the next day. Jenny and Claire trap a British soldier, Robert MacDonald, who claims that Jamie is dead. He tells them that Jamie threw himself into deep water and never resurfaced as they fired at him. However, Jenny does not believe this story, as she knows that Jamie “swims like a fish” (933). Jenny finds Jamie’s leather strap in the river. Claire sees blood on the nearby bark and ascertains that Jamie is hurt. Murtagh finds Jenny and Claire, taking Jenny’s place in their search for Jamie so Jenny can go home and care for her infant. Murtagh tells Jenny and Claire that it was the widow MacNab that told the English about Jamie’s whereabouts. Jenny gives Claire the money from the rents in case she needs it. Before Jenny departs back home, Jenny apprehensively tells Claire that Jamie had informed her that Claire might tell her things. Claire knows that Jamie refers to her insights about the future. Claire tells Jenny to start planting potatoes ahead of Scotland’s upcoming famine and create a priest-hole in the house for hiding.
PART SIX
34. Claire and Murtagh befriend a band of gypsies, who promise to give them word if they come across a Scottish man of Jamie’s description. Two days later, one of the Romani men fetches Claire at the inn, claiming to have found Jamie. However, to Claire’s disappointment, it is Dougal they have found. Dougal informs Claire that Jamie is being held at Wentworth Prison and is condemned to hang. When Claire implores Dougal to help her free Jamie, Dougal refuses, claiming that Wentworth is a fortress from which no one can escape. Claire accuses Dougal of disloyalty after letting Geillis, with whom he was having an affair and has had a child, die. She also questions him about harming Jamie, but Dougal replies that Jamie is the closest thing he has ever had to a son. Dougal confesses to siring Hamish, at Colum’s behest. Dougal admits his infatuation with Claire, then menacingly wonders out loud if he can impregnate Claire once Jamie is dead. Murtagh interrupts the conversation, advancing on Dougal with a loaded pistol and forcing Dougal to do as Claire says. Claire bargains with Dougal that if she can convince Dougal’s men to help her free Jamie from Wentworth Prison then Dougal will let her, and if she cannot, she will give Dougal back his horses and money. Dougal agrees. Five of the men decide to go with Claire to help Jamie. Claire, Murtagh, and five of Dougal’s men set off for the Wentworth Prison 35 miles away. Dougal relays to Claire that Geillis is dead but that she wanted Claire to have two messages: The first is, “I think it is possible,” and the second is the number “1967.” Though Claire claims not to understand, Claire secretly knows that Geillis refers to the possibility of Claire’s successful marriage to and love for Jamie, and that 1967 refers to the year that Geillis traveled to the past from. Claire wonders that if she had seen Geillis’s vaccination scar earlier if she would have gone back to the stones and left Jamie.
PART SEVEN
35. Claire meets with Sir Fletcher Gordon, who oversees the prison. Gordon refuses to let Claire see Jamie but allows Jamie to write Claire a letter. The next day, Claire returns to the prison with Murtagh and breaks into Gordon’s office to steal his keys while he is eating lunch. Claire finds Jamie’s cell but is informed by another prisoner that Jamie had been taken out of his cell that morning by Randall. Claire finds Jamie in the basement of the prison, hunched over his severely damaged right hand. As Claire tries to set Jamie free, she is interrupted by Captain Randall, who has been torturing Jamie. Jamie bargains with Randall that he will let Randall do anything to his body without telling the prison if he lets Claire go free. Randall agrees to let Claire go. Claire tells Captain Randall that she is a witch and that she knows the day on which he will die. Before Claire can tell him his death date, Randall pushes her into a ditch of dead bodies outside of Wentworth Prison. Before she can escape the prison, Claire is attacked by wolves. In the middle of the pursuit, Claire falls into the arms of a stranger.
36. Claire is saved from the wolf attack by a man that looks like a bear. “The bear,” as Claire calls him, takes her back to his cottage. Claire introduces herself as a Fraser by marriage and the bear introduces himself as Sir Marcus MacRannoch. Sir Marcus MacRannoch is hesitant to help Claire free her husband until Murtagh arrives and clarifies that Jamie is Ellen MacKenzie’s son. Murtagh says he recognizes Sir Marcus MacRannoch from a Gathering at Castle Leoch, and it is revealed that Sir Marcus MacRannoch was the secret admirer who gave Ellen the pearls Claire now owns. Murtagh sends a stampede of Sir Marcus MacRannoch’s cattle onto the Wentworth Prison. Sir Marcus bursts into Sir Fletcher Gordon’s office and accuses him of housing stolen cattle. It is then that Randall is caught torturing Jamie. Murtagh and the MacKenzie men grab Jamie and take him back to Sir Marcus’s house for care. Claire musters her strength to repair Jamie’s injured hand without cracking under her sadness at seeing Jamie in pain. After hours of treating Jamie, Claire starts to nod off and Sir Marcus insists on taking over treating Jamie’s wounds. Claire turns back to tell Sir Marcus how to bandage the cuts but stops when she hears Sir Marcus and Jamie in conversation. Jamie starts when Sir Marcus puts his hand on Jamie’s bare bottom to reach over him. Sir Marcus informs Jamie that Randall is dead—trampled by cattle at Wentworth. Sir Marcus advises Jamie not to try to forget about the rape and torture but in time allow Claire to comfort him. Jamie lets Sir Marcus help him cut something out of his chest. Claire wakes up in the middle of the night and goes to check on Jamie. Jamie awakens when she stands by his side. Jamie experiences a range of emotions, from wanting to hold Claire and never let her go, to vigorously make love to her to crying in her lap. He lists wanting to hit someone, burn down Wentworth Prison, and sleep. “[M]y mind’s at war wi’ me, and my body’s turned traitor,” Jamie explains (1058). Claire asks Jamie what Sir Marcus cut from his chest. Jamie replies that he extracted the piece of flesh where Randall had carved his initials into Jamie’s breast. Jamie tells Claire that he was raped repeatedly by Randall. Jamie claims that everyone has a small, private place inside of themselves, like a fortress, that they only show to people they love greatly, and Captain Randall’s assault felt to him like his fortress had been blown up with gunpowder. Jamie cries that he has nowhere to hide. Jamie admits to Claire that he has been close to death a few times, but the torture and rape from Captain Randall was the first time that he wanted to die. Claire soothes Jamie and puts him to sleep.
37. Claire, Murtagh, and Jamie prepare to flee to France. As they set off on the road, Sir Marcus instructs Claire to tell the English that they are guests of his if they are stopped. The party is stopped by four English soldiers, who are looking for the escaped prisoners from Wentworth. They interrogate Jamie about his illness. Murtagh, Jamie, and Claire fight and kill three of the soldiers. Claire pursues and kills the fourth English soldier, a very young man, much to her distress. Jamie, Claire, and Murtagh board the Cristabel ship to France to find refuge at Jamie’s uncle’s abbey. Claire is shocked by the severity of Jamie’s seasickness. Murtagh forces Jamie to take drugs so he can rest. At long last, Murtagh points out the French coast ahead. In a matter of hours, Claire looks up at the gates of Abbey of Ste. Anne de Beaupré.
38. Upon arriving at the abbey, Claire notices the physical similarities between Jamie and his uncle Abbot Alexander. After Claire inquires about Jamie’s whereabouts, Alexander informs Claire that the monks have taken Jamie to bathe him. Claire wakes up from a nightmare and goes to see Jamie in the middle of the night. She finds him in the arms of a monk, bleeding. The monk, who happened to be passing by on the way to the chapel, explains to Claire that Jamie also had a nightmare, and his movement affected his wounds. Jamie cannot stand the smell of lavender in the room, which reminds him of Captain Randall. Claire notices that the monk is a Franciscan. The next morning, Claire feels better, but Jamie is queasy and irritable, refusing to eat or allow Claire to dress his wounds. After losing his patience with her, Jamie apologizes, claiming that his bowels are “griping” (1086). Claire asks what he means, while noting to herself the distinction between romance and intimacy, but Jamie does not explain further. Claire meets Francois Anselm Mericoeur d’Armagnac, or Father Anselm, the monk who assisted Jamie in the middle of the night. Claire gleans that Father Anselm is a visitor at the abbey by his Franciscan black robes. Anselm is there to translate the works of Herodotus. Anselm suggests that Claire accompany him to see the library. Claire asks Anselm what perpetual adoration is. Anselm replies that it is the symbolic act of waiting out the hours of Christ’s trial to make up for Christ’s followers falling asleep in the story of Gethsemane. Anselm explains that each watcher picks an hour that suits them best, and his is 2am, when he feels that “[…] time has stopped” (1091). Claire returns to check on Jamie. Jamie refuses milk and broth, claiming no appetite. He shares with Claire that he had been dreaming of being flogged. Though Jamie cannot sleep, he refuses to take any drugs to induce rest. Claire offers to make a pallet on the floor and stay with Jamie overnight, but he refuses her, imploring her to find her own supper and bed. Claire grows more worried about Jamie as his condition worsens. She passes her days at the abbey drying plants with Brother Ambrose at the herbarium or wandering the abbey grounds. Brother Ambrose invites Claire to join him in the chapel that night after observing that since Jamie doesn’t sleep neither does Claire. Claire agrees. That night, Claire spends time in the chapel contemplating the possibility of loving Frank and Jamie at the same time.
39. On her way to her routine morning assessment of Jamie’s condition, Claire is stopped by Murtagh, who tells Claire that Jamie does not want to see her. Nevertheless, Claire bursts into the room. She assures Jamie that she will not touch him, but she insists that he talk to her. Jamie tells Claire that he should have let Randall kill him. Jamie shares the details of his interaction with Randall—that Randall would torture him, then sexually arouse him, then torture him again in succession. “He did not just hurt me, or use me,” Jamie reveals, “He made love to me” (1107). Jamie elaborates on the first time Randall made love to him, telling Claire that Randall used oil, treated him with care, and touched him gently. “I could no more stop myself from rising to his touch than I could stop myself bleeding when he cut me,” Jamie says (1107). Jamie confesses to Claire that though he still loves her, touching her brings up painful memories of Randall. He tells her to go back to Craigh na Dun and to Frank because he can no longer be her husband. Claire tries to comfort him, but Jamie refuses her. Claire leaves his chambers. Jamie gets a fever due to his infected hand. On the second day, Jamie begins to hallucinate. In one of Jamie’s lucid moments, he asks Claire to let him die. Claire asks the monks to let her spend the night with Jamie alone. She intends on using ammonia, dried lavender, valerian, incense, and opium to summon a ghost. Claire lights opium smoke in an attempt to make Jamie fall into a trance. Using the opium, Claire summons Randall’s spirit from the darkness. Imitating Randall, Claire caresses Jamie as Frank used to caress her, then implores him to fight her. Claire draws a knife across Jamie’s chest, just as Randall had done. “Now kiss me,” she whispers in Randall’s accent (1127). Jamie hurls Claire across the room and gets up off the bed. Jamie attempts to corner Claire and grab her. Before the candle burns out, Claire sees Jamie crouched on the floor, blue-eyes murderous and penis erect, looking like a Viking. Opium clogs Claire’s lungs, and she begins to see flashes of light. Jamie and Claire fall locked together on the floor, Jamie’s hand clutching Claire’s breast. In his opium-induced state, Jamie mistakes Claire for his mother. Claire implores Jamie to lay his head on her chest and rest. Jamie and Claire are discovered half naked in the morning by Brother Williams. Jamie hoarsely asks Brother Williams to fetch him some food. Jamie falls asleep out of exhaustion.
40. When Claire awakens, she finds Anselm sitting by her window reading. She asks if she can confess to him, though he is merely a scholar. Anselm suggests that he find another monk as he usually does not take confessions, though it is technically permissible. Claire insists on having Anselm hear her confess. She reveals her time travels to Anselm. Later, over warm pastries in the abbey kitchens, Claire consults Anselm on the morality of her knowledge of the future, and he advises her to use it as a tool. Claire shares her shame over killing the young English soldier to protect Jamie as well as her sadness over leaving Frank. Anselm assuages her guilt about tampering with the past by reminding her that everyone’s actions affect the future, not just hers. As for her two marriages, Anselm replies, “No man can serve two masters, and no more can a woman” (1150-151). Jamie grows angry at his confinement and demands bread and meat instead of broth and milk, though he cannot yet stomach solid food. Claire goes to Jamie’s room to find Jamie gone and Murtagh sitting in his place. Murtagh informs Claire that Jamie escaped out the window in nothing but his skin. Horrified, Claire pursues Jamie. Claire finds Jamie half-naked on the road. Jamie confides in Claire that towards the end of his time with Randall, Randall kept asking Jamie to tell him that he loved him, but Jamie could not. He remembers being tender to Randall and holding him when Randall told him that he loved him, but Jamie could not say the words back. “If I had told him that,” Jamie reflects, “he would have killed me” (1162). In retaliation for Jamie’s refusal of love, Randall rapes him again. Jamie remembers that during the sexual torture, Randall kept calling him Alex. Claire recalls that Randall had a brother called Alex. In bed, Claire realizes that the abbey is only a temporary sanctuary and that she and Jamie must soon decide where they will go next. Claire muses over the changes in history that have already taken place: Although Frank’s historical records show that Randall died married and with a son on April 17, 1745, in 1743 Scotland, Randall dies a childless bachelor. Claire wonders if Frank will be born now that Randall has died without an heir. Jamie shows up at Claire’s bedroom door after a night of sleepless loneliness in his own recovery room. Though Claire wakes up with a half-scream and tells Jamie he should not be out of bed, she allows him under the covers. The couple make love, slowly, for the first time since Jamie’s injury. Feeling Jamie tiring, Claire instructs Jamie to climax, softly whispering, “come to me. Now!” (1166). Jamie yields. Afterwards, Claire confesses that she was afraid Jamie would not be able to bare the pleasure and vigor of love making. Claire notes that the Victorians called sex the “little death” for good reason (1167). Claire concedes that Jamie can have an egg for breakfast the next morning.
41. Claire finds Jamie in his room, holding his injured hand and crying. Claire apologizes for not being able to fully repair his wound. Jamie clarifies that he is crying for joy that he has use of his hand at all. Jamie shows Claire a letter of introduction from his French uncle, Abbot Alexander, to His Majesty King James of Scotland, presenting Jamie as a translator. However, Jamie announces that it is Claire’s decision where they go to start their new life. “I meant it Claire,” Jamie says, “My life is yours. And it’s yours to decide what we shall do, where we go next” (1174). Claire and Jamie receive presents from Sir Marcus: a pearl bracelet that matches the necklace he gave to Jamie’s mother Ellen all those years ago and that Jamie in turn gifted Claire, and a wolf hide. Claire realizes that the wolf hide is made of the fur of the wolf that almost killed her at Wentworth Prison. Claire tells Jamie about the incident at Wentworth Prison: How Captain Randall pushed her out into a pile of dead bodies, how she was attacked by a wolf and sought refuge at Sir Marcus’s house, how Murtagh found her and rescued Jamie. Jamie tells Claire to undress and put on her robe. Jamie leads Claire through the castle and out into a dark hot spring, which is said to have healing powers. Claire decides that the couple will take refuge in Rome. As Claire enters the warm water, Jamie teases her that he likes the squeaking sound she makes. The couple make love repeatedly in the hot spring. Jamie implores Claire to wait to climax, telling her, “Not yet. We’ve time,” implying the book’s theme of the possibility of new beginnings (1185). Claire echoes this sense of possibility, noting that the moon above them is a Christmas moon. Claire tells Jamie that she has a gift for him and presses his hand over her newly-pregnant stomach.