Outlander Book Club: Voyager Chapter 58 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

We start with Claire, Jamie, Fergus, Marsali, and Mr. Willoughby getting ready for the Governor’s Ball. Jamie needs to disguise himself as there’s a chance Captain Leonard and the Navy will be at the Ball. He needs Lord John Grey’s help, but doesn’t want to hang because of it.

He’s pretending to be a French sugar plantation owner. That’s how he’s introduced at the ball to many of the women.

All the clothing has clearly been made for them. I’ll admit that I do prefer the way the show handled the outfits with the boxes of clothes from Paris already being on the ship. The items of clothing were reused and handed down to Fergus and Marsali, which made a lot of sense for the time.

While at the ball, Lord John Grey is surprised to see Jamie there. He’s even more surprised to find out Mrs. Malcolm who was on the Porpoise is actually Claire Fraser. Claire can’t figure out why Lord John Grey is so shocked to hear her name, but she later catches Jamie and John in a private room in what looks to be a loving embrace. Claire can’t help but wonder what happened between the two of them while at Ardsmuir. Claire never thought Jamie would give himself to another man after everything with Black Jack Randall, but is it possible he did?

Before all that, Claire spends time asking people about Mrs. Abernathy. All she learns is everything she already knows. There are rumors about Mrs. Abernathy’s actions toward her husband, but it turns out that Mrs. Abernathy doesn’t socialize much. However, she does take in some indentured servants now and then, but apparently doesn’t have any now. Nobody has been up there to really confirm that, though.

Claire also comes across Reverend Campbell while at the ball. He’s there to see if Lord John Grey will help him find his sister.

During the conversation, Reverend Campbell tells Claire that Margaret had fallen in love with a Jacobite named James Fraser. There’s clearly more of a story there, but it’s something we’ll have to wait for in later chapters.

At the very end of the chapter, Claire heads into the retiring room. That’s where she finds a woman dead.