Outlander Book Club: Voyager Chapter 53 breakdown

Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter

You just know that something to do with the slave Claire now has is going to come up. She can’t own a slave. It goes against her nature completely, but right now, she doesn’t have a choice. That doesn’t mean this boy can’t help her and Jamie in some way. Diana Gabaldon doesn’t write something like this in just for the sake of it.

The name Mrs. Abernathy should also ring some bells. That’s Joe’s surname. Are this Mrs. Abernathy and Joe related? No, but there is likely some sort of connection, although it’s never been fully confirmed as far as I know.

Don’t expect Mrs. Abernathy not to link to anything at all, though. Even if you’d never read the books or watched the show, the fact that the name is connected to the Bruja should say a lot.

There is also a little foreshadowing of Fergus trying to make a business of his own in this chapter. He is the one that arranges for the bat guano shipment to make the ship look like a trading vessel. Jamie notes that it is for him to start providing for a wife, which connects to storylines coming up. Fergus always has that in mind, and it doesn’t do his mental health all that good.

Adapting the Voyager chapter

Voyager Chapter 53 is adapted for the TV series, with some of it used directly. However, not all of it is included. Likely for the sake of time, everything involving the bat guano and the bit with the burning bodies is cut out. They weren’t needed for the overall story, and there was only really half an episode to cover all this and up to the Governor’s Ball on Outlander Season 3.

The part that was necessary was the part in the slave market. Claire had to lose it and Jamie had to buy the slave. After all, Temeraire does play a part in helping find Young Ian and getting to the bottom of the situation. There was no way around including him in some way.

Getting information about the Bruja does also happen, but it’s in a slightly different way. Jamie doesn’t work with the freemasons for answers, although I believe they are mentioned in the show, and he doesn’t learn about Mrs. Abernathy until after Claire and Geillis see each other again.

The change here would have partly been because the freemason part was cut out earlier in the story. It was also important to keep Claire and Jamie in the dark about Geillis’s role in everything. We got to know as viewers and then had to wait and see how Claire and Jamie would find out. It’s a common thing in the world of TV.

What did you spot while reading Voyager Chapter 53? Let us know in the comments below.

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