Outlander Book Club: Voyager Chapter 59 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

Everyone is sure that Mr. Willougby is the murderer. After all, he’s different! We’re dealing with people will always put the blame on people who aren’t like them, even if there’s no evidence.

Mr. Willoughby has gone into hiding. While it makes him look guilty, I don’t blame him for doing so. It’s not like he’d get a fair trial. You just have to look at the treatment of the Black slaves to see what white people were like in the past. Even now, we see people jumping to an assumption without evidence and then searching for that evidence, potentially ignoring something that would contradict their thoughts.

And so, Jamie is being questioned since he is the one that brought Mr. Willoughby to the island. That gives Claire a chance to talk to Lord John Grey, who explains who he is and how he came to become friends with Jamie. He also shares the truth about Willie.

Claire didn’t know anything about Jamie’s son. Lord John Grey shows her a miniature, explaining Jamie has a copy of it (and that’s what she saw in the previous chapter), and tells Claire the story of when Jamie asked him to care for Willie. It’s not like Jamie would have had a choice, but of course, Lord John Grey was going to honor the request.

John even shares that Jamie offered his body in payment. John didn’t take Jamie up on the offer.

Did Jamie love Geneva? John doesn’t think so, but he could never say for certain. We do get to find out that John resigned from the Army and married Lady Isobel.

John also tells Claire about being the young boy at Carryiack before Prestonpans. Claire is surprised. She didn’t even recognize him.

Claire is glad that she didn’t know who Lord John Grey was when they met on the Porpoise. She liked him then, and he liked her then. It’s clear the two are now jealous of each other.

I can understand John’s jealously. Even though he can’t have Jamie, Jamie now has the woman he loves again. Jamie gets to be happy in a way that John can’t be, and he even brings that up to Claire. Claire thinks about Frank. She knows what it’s like to be with someone but not be able to give their whole selves to that person.

Claire is jealous of John, but I still think it’s an irrational jealousy. Not that we necessarily get a say in jealousy. It’s one of the seven deadly sins. However, that doesn’t stop me from wanting Claire to give her head a wobble!

On the way back to the MacIvers, Claire asks Jamie if he thinks Mr. Willoughby is a murderer. Jamie thinks it’s possible. While he’s seen good sides to Mr. Willoughby, all it takes is someone rejecting him or making fun of him for him to snap. Is that what happened?

It doesn’t really matter now. They have six days to find Young Ian and get off the island. Jamie told a lie that involved a ship that would arrive in six days and that would lead to more suspicion. They need to head to Rose Hall to see Mrs. Abernathy as soon as possible.

Jamie also tells Claire about Willie. When Claire tells him that Lord John Grey told her already, Jamie explains that he didn’t tell Claire sooner because he feared she would think he had more illegitimate children out there. He feared that she’d think he didn’t love Brianna with all his heart.

He never loved Geneva, though. He makes it clear that Geneva wanted his body and Laoghaire only wanted his name and money. Jamie never loved either of them. It’s always been Claire and only Claire.

The two are back on the same page.