Outlander Book Club: An Echo in the Bone Chapter 86 breakdown
Just the Outlander chapter
We start with William heading to the area the Continental Army holds. He needs to get Denny to perform surgery on Henry Grey. William knows that Denny can help, but he needs to get past enemy lines first. He does so by taking supplies to George Washington to offer some sort of truce for this moment.
It works. Denny and Rachel head to Henry Grey to perform the surgery. William is surprised to see Ian’s dog, Rollo, with Rachel. Meanwhile, Rachel has now seen Jamie and she can see the resemblance in William. This is a topic that comes up, although not with William.
Denny is able to extract one of the metal balls from Henry’s stomach. It’s not both of them, though, and that means Henry’s life is still in danger. John is impressed though. He’s all the more shocked to learn that Denny and Claire have been working together. It’s when Denny makes a poultice for Henry’s healing wounds that John realizes just how much Claire has taught him.
The chapter moves to Denny and Rachel. She wonders if William realizes that he has a striking resemblance to Jamie Fraser. She also wonders if Ian will return. Denny makes a remark that Ian will come back for Rollo, but we know it’s not just Rollo he wants to come back to America for.
It’s clear that Denny doesn’t approve of Rachel potentially marrying Ian. Ian is too violent, and Denny says that dogs may not be that much of a good judge of character. Rachel wonders if she should marry William then, but Denny doesn’t seem all that happy with that idea either.
At the end of the chapter, Dorothea turns up. It’s clear that Denny is the man Dorothea has taken a liking to. Dorothea is willing to leave her life behind for Denny. Rachel wonders if Ian would leave his life of violence behind for Rachel. Is that possible? She’s so torn between what she wants and what she feels she should want. She just hopes that God will show her the way, and he seems to do that with Rollo being so affectionate with Rachel.