Outlander Book Club: An Echo in the Bone Chapter 2 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

The chapter starts with Bree and Roger reading a letter from Claire and Jamie. Bree learns that her parents survived the fire, which is all that is important to her now. There are other letters in the chest that was sent, but Bree isn’t opening them just yet.

After that, we head to the past. The White Sow has been attacked, and it’s clear that it was with a dagger or knife. That rules out the neighboring Cherokee and animals. Jamie and Ian need to find out what’s going on. Who would dare to attack the White Sow?

Well, it turns out that the White Sow has stayed under the ruins of the Big House. She’s not the only thing that’s there—and we’re not talking about her babies. Jamie and Ian think they see Arch Bug.

It makes sense. Arch and Murdina must have hidden the gold under the house where the White Sow lived. Who would even think about going up against the pig? Arch would have taken bits of the gold when the pig wasn’t there, but he obviously went over at the wrong time. He wouldn’t have got any of the gold for some time after the fire. It would have been too obvious, but now there’s soot everywhere as people have been clearing away the debris, making it easier for Arch to cover his tracks.

However, it turns out that it wasn’t Arch at the house that night. As Jamie is shot at, Ian fires an arrow at who he assumes is Arch. It turns out that it was Murdina, and Ian has killed her.

Back at the house, Grannie McLeod has died. She was brought to Claire by her grandsons, but there’s nothing Claire can do to help her. Claire believes that it is cancer, and Grannie McLeod dies while Claire is distracted by Rollo howling at something.