Outlander Book Club: Voyager Chapter 17 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

Claire, Roger, and Brianna head out to Loch Ness during this chapter. It’s a chance for them to relax a little after spending so much time researching.

They’ve got to the point where they found out Ardsmuir Prison had closed down. The prisoners were sent to the Colonies. However, Roger finds out that Jamie never went overseas. He was sent to England to a place called Helwater. He remained there until 1764, when he was paroled.

So, we find out that Jamie did get home after Helwater. At least, he left the Lake District for home. Lord John Grey’s stepfather came through once again.

Roger points out that they are just a couple of years away from catching up to their timeline. They are working with the knowledge that Claire’s travels 202 years each time. That means, they need to find out where Jamie is in 1766. Then they catch up with their own timeline in 1968.

The question for Claire is whether she’s going to travel back to Jamie. Will she leave Brianna behind? It’s not an easy question for her to answer, and part of her feels guilty for even considering it.

Meanwhile, Claire thinks about Loch Ness and the creature she once saw. We connect back to Outlander Chapter 14, never really knowing if it would really come up again. Claire shares her theory with Roger that there’s a portal under the water. This is why the “Loch Ness Monster” is sometimes seen and sometimes not. It’s why the look of the creature always changes because it’s always a different creature from the prehistoric times that shows up.

At the very end, Claire asks if Roger would do down to the bottom of the loch to the portal if Bree was down there. He would, and Claire agrees that she would do. She wants to go back in time if she can find Jamie.