Outlander Book Club: The Fiery Cross Chapter 9 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

We start with Claire, who is still performing medical needs. This time it’s to help one of Farquard Campbell’s slaves. The treatment itself isn’t that difficult or even overly important to the plot. However, I do get the sense that the slaves trust Claire even though they don’t all speak the same language.

Claire has made a name for herself as someone who can raise the dead, even though that’s not what she did. She’s also kind to the slaves, and I think that goes a long way with them. They wouldn’t want to seek treatment from white people, but Claire has always looked past the color of their skin, especially with her best friend in the 1960s being a Black man.

The focus for Claire is on her thoughts about the upcoming Revolutionary War. There are just a handful of years left for that to happen, and Claire knows that each of the first 13 states had a different route to the war. She only knows Boston’s route because of Brianna’s history lessons.

Back in Drums of Autumn, she admitted that she never looked into the history of the Colonies. She never thought she and Jamie would end up here. The good news is Brianna might know a little more, but Claire doesn’t even think about that.

We then move to Roger, who is working his way around people to get them to join the militia. Jamie has sent him to specific people, possibly people Jamie knows that Roger will be able to persuade. I swear Jamie knows that Roger needs to get a small boost in confidence to then work on some of the more difficult people.

Roger has luck with the people he sees. The hardest is Auld Joan, who is not that old at all. The name likely comes from the fact that she has a daughter called Joan too. While Joan’s brother can’t fight, her sons can. Of course, she’s not initially willing to let them go, and being poor, she wants money for it.

In the end, she asks if Roger will guarantee their safety. He’s smart, guaranteeing it as much as he’s able to. I do feel like Joan respects that. She knows that Roger can’t guarantee anything outside of his own powers, and he’s been man enough to admit to that. She ends up agreeing that her sons can fight.