Outlander Book Club: The Fiery Cross Chapter 51 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

This is a short chapter in the novel, focusing mostly on pushing the plot forward. We start with Claire going to see Phaedre, who is in shock and in the initial stages of grief.

Claire wants to make sure that Phaedre is okay, and ends up giving some laudanum to sleep. There is certainly an irony in giving the laudanum. After all, it’s something Betty was given when she was drugged. Claire is using it in a more ethical way for the time period, though.

Why would Claire want to check on Phaedre? Won’t all the slaves be in shock? Claire reminds us that Betty was Phaedre’s mother. There’s far more to this story, but we’ll get to that soon!

At the end of the chapter, Claire and Jamie are talking. Claire realizes that Betty’s death wasn’t an accident, and it’s clear that Jamie agrees. It was murder, but Claire needs to figure out how to be able to figure out why.

Jamie doesn’t think there will be a way to tell if Betty was murdered or not. There’s nothing in his own time that will help with that. However, Claire isn’t from this time, and it pushes us into the next chapter of the novel.