Outlander Book Club: A Breath of Snow and Ashes Chapter 9 breakdown
Just the Outlander chapter
We start the chapter with Claire and Jamie discussing Bobby Higgins. He has piles, and that’s what Claire has been treating. She assumes that is why John has sent Bobby to her, and that leads to some concerns.
She thinks that John wants Bobby to be healthy for certain things. Jamie has considered it too, but he does later point out that John would never coerce or use his power to get a man to please him in bed. That’s just not Lord John Grey’s style.
Something that I do like about this part of the chapter, though, is we’re reminded of Claire’s upbringing. Yes, she is a little more open-minded about certain things. She hates slavery because she is good friends with a Black man. However, she still has some opinions about gay men. It was still illegal in her time in the 1960s, and there were some negative thoughts about them.
Claire will have heard about things, and we don’t see that she knows a gay man personally, so she’s never been able to separate fact from fiction. She has more modern views than the people of the 18th century, but she doesn’t have our modern views.
The Browns initially turn up, which surprises Claire. It is a three-day ride from Brownsville. However, Jamie later points out that the Browns have heard rumors of a murderer at Fraser’s Ridge and they’ve come to see that. Bobby Higgins has been marked with an “M” from during the Boston Massacre. He killed one person, but it wasn’t something he intended to do. The Browns want to make a point that they’re there to keep people safe, and that means they need to make it look like there’s a danger they need to protect people from.
But back to Bobby Higgins. Claire finds out why he’s really been sent to her. It was nothing to do with the piles but everything to do with his fainting spells. He doesn’t know why they happen, and they seem to come out of the blue. Claire needs to get to the bottom of this.
She also needs to treat Lizzie’s latest malaria attack. This one also comes out of the blue and worries Lizzie’s father. Claire hasn’t been able to get someone to get her Jesuit’s bark yet, so she has to find something else that will help.