Outlander Book Club: Book 1, Chapter 28 breakdown

Foreshadowing within the Outlander chapter

There are a few things that come to me while reading this chapter now. The first is the story Grannie MacNab uses. Claire dues suffer a stillbirth eventually, and there is a period of silence. The grief causes Claire to draw in, especially when Jamie is locked up in the Bastille.

At the same time, we get Claire grieving and angry in the future. After Jamie sends her through the stones for safety, there’s a period of silence as Claire figures out what she’s supposed to do with her life. She didn’t want to leave Jamie behind and she’s devastated that (she thinks) he died at Culloden.

However, most of the foreshadowing is in the risk of Claire and Jamie remaining at Lallybroch. Until Jamie gets his pardon he can’t stay, and that’s possibly not going to happen knowing how the Duke of Sandringham is connected to Black Jack Randall. So, they can’t remain at Lallybroch for long.

There’s this constant threat that they can be taken away at any point. And I do wonder if there’s an element of foreshadowing that this is eventually going to happen; that Jamie can’t escape his fate even though he wishes he could.

Of course, there’s also a focus on Rabbie, who does eventually become an important part of the family. The Frasers find a way to look after him. Family isn’t all about blood to them. They want to look after youngsters who need it, which links to Fergus in a future book.