Outlander Book Club: A Breath of Snow and Ashes Chapter 92 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

The chapter starts with Claire working while imprisoned. However, someone turns up looking for the midwife—and he wants to make sure she’s not the murderer. Sadie, the forger, claims to be the murderer to get Claire out of prison. Mrs. Tolliver has collapsed from a hangover and heatstroke so she can’t answer for anyone.

Claire ends up at the Governor’s Palace, where the governor’s wife, Mrs. Martin, feels like she’s in labor. Claire notes that it’s just food poisoning for now, but there is the threat of another illness. There’s an ague going around the city and the palace, and Claire will want to keep the mistress safe.

Claire gets to know Mrs. Martin a little more while she tries to get Mrs. Martin to have some dry toast and tea. Mrs. Martin had six previous pregnancies and mentions that the girls are staying with family in New Jersey.

It’s clear that there’s something Mrs. Martin isn’t mentioning about the pregnancies, but Claire can’t really focus on that. We later find out that only three babies are still living. The boys all died.

Mrs. Martin has figured out who Claire is. She wants to know the truth to the gossip. Claire makes it clear that Malva wasn’t Jamie’s mistress and she didn’t kill Malva. However, she did cut the baby from Malva’s womb.

Now that Claire has realized she’s in New Bern, she has some renewed hope. Fergus and Marsali are in town. She just needs to get to them. That isn’t going to be all that easy with the guards around. It’s also not easy when Mrs. Martin keeps calling for her help throughout the night.

The governor also has a job for Claire. Since she can write in a fair hand, he needs her to copy letters and other correspondence. He notes that she writes well and it’s a shame she’s a forger. She’s sure to die for that, but as a murderer who is well educated, she would have stood a chance of avoiding the gallows. However, Claire keeps her hopes up. Maybe she stands a better chance of escaping as a forger rather than a murderess.