Outlander Book Club: Book 2, Chapter 26 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

We start the chapter with Claire still at the hospital. She’s recovering now but says that she sleeps a lot of the day away. It could be the recovery, but this is also a sign of depression. Fortunately, Claire has a friend who knows how to help.

Louise turns up to take her away. They go to Louise’s home in the countryside. While we get a sense that Louise is a high society woman of her time, she’s also a good friend. There’s this moment where she feels so bad for bringing up her own pregnancy, and it doesn’t seem a false concern. Just that Louise hadn’t even considered it at first and genuinely feels terrible for it.

That conversation comes up when Claire sees two men and a woman who have been hanged. They’re Huguenots, Protestants who have been hanged for their beliefs. However, Louise also points out that there was likely an element of witchcraft involved. Hanging a woman suggests witchcraft rather than just sedition.

When Claire gets to the property, she shares how Fergus is struggling without Jamie around. Claire doesn’t even know where Jamie is right now, but she knows that Fergus isn’t himself. However, Fergus doesn’t want to talk to anyone and he doesn’t want a bath, either.

Claire chases him through the woods, which is when she comes upon a shed where a man is hiding. This man is a reverend, hiding out from being executed. There are a couple of people on Louise’s staff who bring food to him to help.

Rather than turn him over, Claire just listens to his story. After all, while she’s a Catholic, she’s never been raised with the view that only her religion is the true religion. She’s accepting of different religious views, likely due to her upbringing with her uncle.

This is when she learns more about Master Raymond. This reverend knew Master Raymond in Geneva, where he was a physician. After moving to Paris, the reverend shares that he turned to the occult and is no longer the man he remembers.

At the end of the chapter, Claire surprises herself when talking about Jamie. She doesn’t want to see him again. She doesn’t care what’s happened to him, believing that Jamie put his own pride before a promise he made.

I don’t blame Claire for her anger, especially in her grief. She doesn’t know why Jamie broke his promise, but it was a promise that was broken. Whether Claire should have asked him for a year or not, Jamie made a promise and he’s always kept them. Claire isn’t in the right frame of mind in her grief to even consider why he would break such a promise now, so her anger is completely justified.