Outlander Book Club: A Breath of Snow and Ashes Chapter 12 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

The chapter starts with the topic of the phosphorus. Roger is concerned about it. All he knows is that it can burst into flames and blow up. He doesn’t want to see the roof of the cabin blown off! However, Brianna isn’t as worried about it being in the cabin. She just wants to figure out what to do with it.

She knows the theory behind making matches. Can she make them for their home? It would be much easier and quicker to make fires than everything they currently need to do.

Jamie interrupts the conversation. He needs Roger to go to Cross Creek with Arch Bug and Thomas Christie. There are new potential tenants, but they’re Presbyterian. Jamie can’t go meet them since he’s Catholic. There’s no way they would feel settled if they met their Catholic landowner first. Jamie wants to build up a better feeling by meeting a couple of the Presbyterians on the Ridge.

Roger is a little disappointed that Jamie is only asking due to religious reasons. He thought it was because Roger is his son-in-law. However, I’m sure that does have a role to play, too.

Isn’t Arch Bug Catholic, though? And he doesn’t speak much. Arch will be the ones helping the newcomers settle on the land, so it makes sense for them to meet him. Arch will know to keep his Catholicism out of the conversation.

Jemmy wants to go with Roger. At first, Roger is about to say no but he sees the look on Brianna’s face. He decides to take Jem with him. At least he’ll have someone to talk to!

I do love that we continue to see the way Jamie’s mind thinks. He will do what’s best for the land and other tenants living there. After all, he and Young Ian are needed elsewhere to talk to some of the local Native Americans. Jamie knows how to delegate well when he needs to.

We also see Roger care about Brianna’s mental state. With just one look, Roger knew it would be best to take Jem with him to give Brianna some sort of a break. After all, Bree is going to have a lot to do for the harvest now with everyone else away.