Outlander Book Club: Drums of Autumn Chapter 3 breakdown
Just the Outlander chapter
The chapter starts with a phone call. Roger has called Brianna, but it turns out it’s in the middle of the night in her timezone. I do have to chuckle at this. It’s something I have to think about a lot with family in the UK and me being in Canada.
Roger has called because Brianna didn’t write back to him. In the letter he told her about a conference in Boston, but he wants to make sure she’s happy with him visiting. She is.
That’s when we find out from Brianna that she left Roger to get a little space. After everything that happened in Scotland, she needed to get away from Roger. It’s not that she doesn’t like him but that she’s concerned Roger was only there for her because her mom asked him to be. She needed space to work out his feelings for her.
Has it been enough time? That’s something to find out.
We do get to find out that Brianna has switched her major. She’s no longer studying history. She’s moved onto engineering.
When Roger arrives at the airport, Brianna is waiting for him with her friend Gayle. Gayle goes on and on about Roger’s accent and what he wears under a kilt. Roger is fun about it, but this will be one of the first times he’s probably had something like this happen.
I’ll admit that if you live in North America for long enough, it does get a little tiring and sometimes awkward. It’s why I find Gayle a little insufferable because I know what it’s like to be on Roger’s side—and so does my Scottish husband.
Roger shares that he isn’t just here for a conference. He will also play at one of the Highland Games in the area.
When we get to the section of the chapter from Roger’s point of view, it’s Brianna and Roger driving to the Highland Games. Roger feels bad that Bree is driving him such a long way, but Bree points out that 100 miles to the British is a long distance and 100 years to Americans is a long time. From experience, it is very true.
They play a game of “The Minister’s Cat” on the way, but the conversation eventually moves onto the stones and Claire and Jamie. Brianna points out that this was partly why she didn’t reply to Roger’s letter. She’s not spoken about her parents for the last six months, but she mentions them every day around Roger. He’s the one that understands everything that went on at the stones.
And has Roger been back at the stones? Definitely not. He’s scared of the place and is embarrassed to admit that.
However, one thing he does point out is that he didn’t just help Bree because Claire asked him to. He wanted to because he likes her.