Outlander Book Club: Voyager Chapter 5 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

We pick up with Jamie at the cave. It’s been weeks since the previous chapter and there’s been no word about Ian just yet. He’s still imprisoned somewhere.

Jamie heads to the house on two occasions. The first is alone when things are too quiet. Everyone has headed to Broch Mordha, giving Jenny some quiet. The second time is when Fergus comes up for him when Jenny has gone into labor.

Jamie thinks about the trouble that the English have caused, as he looks through the family’s book of names, which ends with the birth and death of Caitlin Murray. There’s a sense of regret and certainly sorrow as Jamie thinks about how his niece may have survived had the day before the English not barged their way in.

The chapter moves on, though. Jenny goes into labor. The midwife is with her, but Jamie worries. Jenny said that she didn’t him there since there’s nothing he can do, but that’s not the way he sees it. He wanted to be there to pray for her if nothing else.

He’s also the one to shoot the raven that settles on the house and refuses to move. The raven brings ill will according to the superstition.

Of course, the shot is heard by the English patrol. When Jamie goes up to see Jenny and the new baby, the English patrol barges in. Jamie takes baby Ian to the closet and they hide there. It’s a tense moment, especially when the captain asks where Jenny’s baby is. She has to lie to say the baby died, which Young Jamie overhears.

Young Jamie starts crying, understanding what the loss means. It does mean the captain doesn’t hear some of the noises that baby Ian makes, so Jamie isn’t caught.

It’s too close, though. And it’s not safe to head back to the cave just yet. He needs to hide in the priest hole for now and he’ll head back to the cave at night. He won’t be back at the house for some time.