Outlander Book Club: An Echo in the Bone Chapter 8 breakdown
Just the Outlander chapter
The chapter starts with Claire taking stock of everything she’s packing. There isn’t much, with some items borrowed and some salvaged from the fire. Sadly, her apothecary chest didn’t survive the fire, but some of her surgical bag did.
We also get to learn that Jamie and Ian have been collecting the gold over time and moving it somewhere else that’s safe. It’s not in the same place as the whiskey, which they’ll need to tell Bobby and Amy about so they can get the two to keep making whiskey while the Frasers are away.
There are mentions of the past sprinkled throughout the chapter. Thoughts of Mrs. Bug come up as Claire thinks about the food they’ve eaten recently, and then a mention of Germans brings up thoughts of the Tuscarora and Nayawenne. At another point, there’s a mention of Claire and Jamie’s ages, and Claire thinks about the fact that she’ll come into her power when her hair turns white. That hasn’t happened yet.
Claire also thinks about Arch Bug in this. She hopes that Arch is dead, but they will all need to see the body. Otherwise, Ian will always be worried about Arch’s threat.
Jamie and Claire also get some private time together. Jamie hasn’t seen Claire naked in four months, and he wants to see her now. Again, we get this reminder that Jamie is still deeply in love with Claire and vice versa. Love is an action and a choice. The two make the choice to always love each other even when they’re angry with each other, and I love we see how that is throughout the books.
Other mentions of life are about the men taking baths. We get this moment of Bobby and Ogie together, and I adore seeing Bobby step into a fatherly role with Amy’s boys. Many men of the time could have pushed their stepchildren aside in favor of having their own, but Bobby is a man of worth and honor. Jamie and Claire are surrounding themselves with good people again.
At the end of the chapter, we get Claire heading out to The White Spring, where Jamie is praying. Claire thinks about the time Jamie prayed to Dougal for help before a battle, but this time, he is more serene. Something stood out in this chapter. Jamie notes that Adso is gone, and I don’t remember this ever being mentioned before after the fire. Is it just assumed at this point because Adso hasn’t been seen for a while?
Jamie then shows Claire the cave where he’s been hiding the gold. There’s a dead Spaniard in the cave, and Claire notes that he possibly broke his leg. That wouldn’t have stopped him getting out of the cave, so what did? It’s one of life’s mysteries. Jamie talks about how he was with Jemmy when they found this cave, and it’s hard to not think about if the two of them were trapped in that cave and injured, nobody else would have known about them. However, it does explain the Spaniard that Jemmy should know about.