Outlander Book Club: A Breath of Snow and Ashes Chapter 8 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

The chapter is just in the form of a letter. Lord John Grey is writing to Jamie, being sent through a man called Bobby Higgins.

We get a little bit of information about who Bobby is. He has become John’s servant more due to his circumstances than anything else. Bobby has a damaged eye and other injuries due to his involvement in the Boston Massacre. We don’t get the full story just yet, but it’s going to come.

John has sent Bobby to the Ridge to see Claire. While nothing can be done about Bobby’s eye, John hopes that Claire can help with other ailments. We don’t get to know what those ailments are in this chapter, but it’s clear that Bobby is going to be around for a while.

Lord John also sends his regards to Brianna. He hopes that Roger doesn’t take offense to that.

One thing this letter does is make me love Lord John Grey even more. He didn’t have to take Bobby on as a servant. He could have just left Bobby to suffer, but he wanted to give this man a chance. While he didn’t like Claire at first, he does admit that she’s talented and skilled. When it comes to getting Bobby the medical help he needs, he trusts Claire to help.

I enjoy letters like this. We get John’s personality through them, something that is missing when we get other characters talking about him. When other characters talk about him, it’s really their perception of the character and not the actual character.