Outlander Book Club: Drums of Autumn Chapter 36 breakdown
Just the Outlander chapter
As soon as Roger arrives in Inverness, he comments about how much of the city hasn’t changed. Sure, it’s smaller and some parts haven’t been built yet, but there are plenty of elements of the old city that he recognizes from him own time 200 years into the future.
There are also important parts of his life not in the city yet. For example, the church and the manse haven’t been built yet.
It’s not surprising Roger takes some time taking in the sights. He’s a historian and would have been interested in the city of the past. Of course he’s going to experience it while he can. Who knows what will happen in the future.
While he works on securing passage across the water, Roger witnesses a family trying to get across. There are options for people to buy passage to emigrate to the colonies, but others have to enter indenture contracts to manage it. And they’re willing to do it in the hope that they will have a better life in the future.
In this case, Roger watches as a man agrees to sell his daughters, asking if they can remain together, because there’s no way they’re old enough for work or use. Nobody would take his wife because of too many kids if he doesn’t sell his daughters. Families were willing to be permanently split up for the hope of a better life.
This wasn’t just the Scottish who did this. If you watch or read anything set in the past, there are people who will indenture themselves for passage.
Reading it is one thing. The problem with TV and books is that they tend to romanticize a time period. We don’t get that in Drums of Autumn. Roger watches the bleakness of the time.
Before Roger does head overseas, he wants to make sure Brianna traveled. That means looking through some of the old ship registers. At first, Roger doesn’t see the name and then he starts to wonder if Brianna did find the obituary and whether she did come through the stones. Then he spots it.
“Mr. Brian Fraser.”
Now, it was quickly written down. “Mistress Briana Fraser.”
He knows now that Brianna did make it to the past and she is on her way to the colonies. She’s possibly already there depending on the weather. However, she’s heading for South Carolina instead of North Carolina.
This moment shows us that Roger is a thinker. He wants to make sure he has all the evidence in place before reacting. He doesn’t just head across the seas thinking Bree might have gone that way but gets the proof first. It’s the historian in him, so it’s just right.
On top of that, he thinks carefully about how he’s going to get across. He could afford the ride, but he decides to find a ship to work on instead. There’s only one ship that is heading across, and that’s the Gloriana.
Despite not liking the look of the captain, the one and only Stephen Bonnet, Roger chooses to see if he can be one of the crew to the colonies. After looking him over, Bonnet agrees. However, Roger can see that Bonnet is always looking out for someone’s weaknesses.
It’s going to be a long journey.