Outlander Book Club: Book 2, Chapter 24 breakdown
Just the Outlander chapter
We start the chapter with Claire telling us there have been other visitors since Monsieur Forez. One of those is Bonnie Prince Charlie, who wants Jamie to be the one to sell the port when it arrives. It’s clear that Charles doesn’t completely trust Comte St. Germain. He also has a lot of loyalty to his “countrymen.”
However, something that I had to chuckle at is how Marcus calls him “Italian.” Of course, Charles was raised in Rome. He would have likely had an Italian accent or at least a lilt growing up there. It’s something the show overlooked—although it’s not often royals have English accents in TV shows. Just look at Reign!
Moving back to the Dragonfly in Amber chapter, Claire receives another set of guests. Louise and Marie are there. Before she gets to them, Claire overhears Marie telling Louise about something that has happened to Jamie.
Earlier in the chapter, Jamie told Claire he needed to go to a brothel. His warehouse manager had got into some trouble and needed his bill playing. We haven’t seen Jamie since then, although Claire does dream that Jamie is close to her. It turns out it’s because Jamie is breaking his promise to Claire.
Marie tells Louise that Jamie has challenged a British man to a duel. We all know who it is. Jamie has challenged Black Jack Randall, and Marie says that it was over a woman at the brothel. However, this is all through hearsay, and nobody really knows what happened upstairs. This is an important element to the chapter.
Claire finds a note from Jamie that says he’s sorry. This is something he has to do. So, the next morning, Claire heads to where the duel will take place to try to stop Jamie. The two are already in the middle of it.
Unable to stop it, Claire suddenly feels excruciating pain in her stomach and back. She’s bleeding and realizes that she’s suffering from a placenta abruption. She knows that she’s losing the baby and she could lose her own life.
In fact, many others around her believe she’s going to die. Fortunately, people close to her also know that she works at the hospital and want to get her to Mother Hildegarde.