Outlander Book Club: The Fiery Cross Chapter 51 breakdown

Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter

We start with the traditional foreshadowing. Claire thinks about Betty being Phaedre’s mother. There’s also a thought of Jocasta and whether Jocasta would know about Betty’s death just yet. Duncan may have decided not to say anything.

All of this links together. We find out eventually that Phaedre was also Hector Cameron’s daughter. She’s important to Jocasta even now, despite being the product of an affair. Well, if you can call a man sleeping with a slave during this time period an affair. I guess it technically wasn’t, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t have been hurtful to Jocasta.

Of course, there is more to Jocasta’s life that we’re still to find out about.

The plot development is at the very end. We get to find out how Claire plans on proving Betty’s death was murder, and it does involve 20th-century procedures. Get ready to see Jamie react to an autopsy.

Adapting The Fiery Cross chapter

The chapter wasn’t used for the series. We didn’t have Betty’s murder in Outlander Season 5, so there was no need to have this chapter in the novel.

That being said, the lead-up to the autopsy was used. The autopsy in the next chapter was also used in the series, but not in the way it was written in the book. For the series, it was the way to bring Marsali in as Claire’s apprentice.

I actually enjoyed the way the show did things. I would expect Claire to do an autopsy to make sure her patient died of what she thought he had. Plus, I loved seeing Marsali become more important to the overall story. She wasn’t included too much in the book, but in a TV show, the writers need to develop the characters more, and making her Claire’s assistant was the best way to do that.

I think the story of Betty’s murder had to be skipped over for another reason. Natalie Simpson wasn’t available for Outlander Season 5 due to a scheduling conflict. This is a problem with TV shows, especially when it comes to guest stars. So, the murder wouldn’t have worked as well without Phaedre being there and the full connection to Hector Cameron.

What did you spot while reading The Fiery Cross Chapter 51? Let us know in the comments below.

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