Outlander Book Club: Book 2, Chapter 44 breakdown
Just the Outlander chapter
Outlander Book 2, Chapter 44 starts with Claire in the hands of the English. Once they realize she was “captured” by Red Jamie, they decide they need to take her South. There are people who want to know everything they can about Red Jamie, and that means taking witnesses directly to them.
On the road, Claire tries to escape. However, she’s attacked by one of the English soldiers. This soldier has decided Claire had to have been defiled by the Highlanders, which means he can have his way with her. Fortunately, there’s a corporal who doesn’t believe in that.
Something I love is that now and then we do get good British Army soldiers. It’s important to remember that not every man was going to rape women. Not every soldier would do something bad to serve “needs.” There were good soldiers out there, which is something Outlander the TV series tried to show with Jeremy Foster, Hamilton Knox, and a few other characters here and there.
Back to the chapter, Claire isn’t able to escape. However, she does get to a house one night. It turns out Mary Hawkins is there. Claire manages to tell Mary that nobody knows who she really is, but the identity of Mrs. Beauchamp can’t remain in place. She is with the Duke of Sandringham.
There’s a lot that happens in this chapter, with a lot of Paris storylines wrapped up. Claire finally realizes that the coded music was from Sandringham and the attack was ordered by him. In fact, the man who tried to rape Claire was the Duke’s footman. It was simply superstition that saved her last night. He was going to kill her.
The Duke needed to get Jamie to stop meddling in the Jacobite business. The best way to do that was to kill Claire. Jamie would have likely given up in his grief. When that didn’t happen, he did arrange for the attack at the docks. Still, Jamie kept slipping through and the Duke decided the offer of the pardon was necessary.
Of course, we know how the Paris storyline turned out. In this chapter, the focus is on why the Duke did it. Which side is he really on? Claire remembers that even Frank and the Reverend Wakefield didn’t know that. What she fails to remember is that the Duke died under mysterious circumstances.
Those mysterious circumstances come up in this chapter. While Claire is locked up in the Duke’s house, she sees Hugh Munro, the begger man from the first book. He tries to help her. He also manages to get a message to Jamie.
Jamie breaks into the Duke’s house and rescues Claire, killing the footman at the same time. With that, they ride off but Claire has learned Hugh was hanged. Jamie takes Hugh’s stepson and Hugh’s body to Hugh’s widow. It’s a heartbreaking moment as Claire realizes that Hugh was their sole source of income. Jamie promises to make sure they don’t want for anything while he’s alive and able to.
Before the chapter ends, Murtagh has a gift. He brings the Duke of Sandringham’s head as a way to make up for the attack on Claire and Mary in Paris and as a sign of vengeance for Hugh’s widow.