Outlander Book Club: Drums of Autumn Chapter 70 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

The chapter starts with the Frasers at the Gathering. Claire sees John Quincy Myers, who shares his surprise at finding Young Ian with the Mohawks. He does have a letter from Young Ian, something that Claire keeps to read with Jamie.

It’s a positive letter. Young Ian shares that he and Emily have a baby on the way, and he’s optimistic about everything. He also shares how Rollo has sired many pups around the area. He wants to pass on his love to everyone, including his mother, who he hopes doesn’t have too many grandchildren to forget about his unborn child.

While at the Gathering, Claire offers medical help to the people in the area. That’s not surprising. It reminds me a lot of her duties when it was the Gathering at Castle Leoch. This is her calling, and she’s always going to make sure people are as healthy as possible.

Tensions rise at the end of the chapter. A Highland regiment shows up. Naturally, all the men are concerned. Highland regiments are still part of the Crown. While this isn’t as similar as the time after Culloden in Scotland, there are many people who remember that time well. Even Jamie is cautious about what could happen. It’s clear the British still worry about Scots gathering in large crowds.

However, the regiment isn’t there to break up the gathering. Instead, Archie Hayes steps forward and wants to see Jamie. He wants to find out about his father, Gavin Hayes.

It was easy to forget all about Archie. Gavin’s hanging happened at the beginning of Drums of Autumn, and we weren’t really sure if Jamie would ever find Gavin’s son. This was simply a truth of the time. However, we get this sort of happy ending where Archie will at least be able to learn about his father from someone who knew him well.