Outlander Book Club: A Breath of Snow and Ashes Chapter 66 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

Claire can’t stand being stuck in bed. She decides to sneak out through a window to be able to get to Tom Christie’s cabin. She wants to know what illness he had.

Tom is shocked to see Claire arrive. He’s also very shocked to see her hair cut so short, telling her she looks like a convict. At least she’s wearing a hat—and when they do leave to return to the Big House, Tom makes her wear the hat again. I love it!

Claire notes that she and Tom had something that wasn’t dysentery. She wants to know what it could be. Did Tom get bitten by mosquitos recently to end up with malaria? Tom notes that everyone gets bitten. Well, Claire thinks that everyone but she and Roger do. Bree and Jemmy get bitten a little but not as much as others in the time. She notes that mosquitos and other bugs likely adapt along with humans and Claire and Roger’s blood tastes weird.

Tom doesn’t help Claire get to the bottom of the illness. To be honest, Tom doesn’t really care about it. They’re both recovered from it now. He decides that he’s going to walk Claire back to the Big House.

Nobody realized that Claire was gone, and naturally, they’re angry when she does return.

Toward the end of the chapter, Claire wakes in the night. She realizes that Jamie is sleeping on the floor, where he’s been for a while. Claire wants to be close to Jamie, and they end up making love that night for the first time since she fell sick.