Outlander Book Club: Drums of Autumn Chapter 31 breakdown

Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter

The chapter doesn’t have all that much foreshadowing in it. This is all about pushing the plot forward. It’s all about getting Roger to the point of going through the stones.

I think the only foreshadowing is Roger continually noting how dangerous the 18th century is. He needs to get to Bree before something happens to her. And he will, but he can’t prevent what happens to her after he reaches her.

Adapting the Drums of Autumn chapter

This chapter wasn’t used on the show. Instead of having Fiona talk about being the caller and handing Gillian’s book, some other parts of the book story were combined. Fiona told Roger she knew the truth when handing him the obituary.

This change was likely more for time than anything else. There just wasn’t the time to be able to have Roger find the obituary and then have the full explanation from Fiona and Gillian’s book—which had been used in Outlander Season 2.

I don’t mind the change. In the end, everything worked its way to the same thing. The show just condensed matters as it needed to. Then again, I watched Outlander Season 4 first before reading the book, so nothing really felt off as a show-first (at this point) fan. That’s the way it needed to be for the series.

What did you spot while reading Drums of Autumn Chapter 31? Let us know in the comments below.

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