Outlander Book Club: A Breath of Snow and Ashes Chapter 119 breakdown
Just the Outlander chapter
The chapter starts from Roger’s point of view. He’s will Aidan and Jemmy, who share that Bobby Higgins has returned. They think Bobby is coming to see Malva’s ghost, who is apparently wandering her grave looking for her murderer. It’s a reminder that we haven’t got the full truth about Malva’s murder just yet.
I do love the boys’ story. They clearly heard stories from some of the superstitious adults in the area. Roger makes it clear that Malva’s soul is in Heaven and she doesn’t need her body until The Last Day. She isn’t a ghost.
He does think about what Aidan and others will do with him gone. However, Mandy needs him the most. Fortunately, Bobby Higgins showing up will help. Roger initially wonders if there’s a place at the Ridge for him. After all, he wants to settle because there are too many British soldiers turning up around Lord John Grey and they make him uneasy because of the scar on his head. Roger thinks about Amy. Bobby could make a good husband for Amy.
Roger does have a moment of jealousy thinking about Bobby and Amy. I don’t think that it’s that he likes Amy in that way but that he likes being needed. Amy turns to him for advice, and with Bobby around, she’ll turn to him instead.
After that, Jamie is with Brianna. He is trying to picture the future, which is only natural. Bree can’t imagine him going to work in a suit, but she can picture him as a farmer or a printer in her own time. She also notes that only the younger men go to war so he wouldn’t have to worry about that.
That night, Claire wakes up to find that Jamie wants her. He also makes it clear that he can’t live without her, but he gives her a stone so that she can travel through the stones. Claire throws the stone out of the window. It annoys me that she does this as that stone could be used for all sorts of other reasons. We’ve seen in the last few chapters that stones are hard to find. Jamie has had to rely on his friendship with John to get one of them. I hope Claire and Jamie went out to find it the next day so they could use it to sell.
I do admit that I find Jamie a little off-putting in this chapter. This is me looking at it from a past filled with trauma, so it is personal, but it is a great reminder that Jamie isn’t the perfect man. He certainly has some flaws.