Outlander Book Club: Written in My Own Heart’s Blood Chapter 5 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

The chapter starts with Jenny learning more about Rachel. Ian has said so much already, so it’s clear that he loves her. She now wants to know about the girl who caught her son’s heart. That’s only natural. I love that we get to see Jenny as a mother in this moment.

Mrs. Figg and Jenny talk, which gives Claire some time to think about John’s niece and nephew. It’s not surprising her thoughts go onto them. After all, while talking about Rachel, Claire also mentioned Denny. We know Denny is in love with Dottie—and the feelings are mutual.

Claire is more curious about Henry’s love interest, though. Mercy Woodcock is a Black woman, and that’s going to affect things for the family. On top of that, we still don’t know what happened to Mercy’s husband. He may not be dead.

After that, Claire thinks about William and how he is doing. That’s who we move on to in the next part of this chapter.

William isn’t dealing very well with the situation. He goes to the room with the woman who pulled him off the streets and starts to wash up. However, he starts to think about what he’s lost. It sends an icy chill down him and he starts to cry. The woman returns, and William is embarrassed about the way he’s acting.

That leads to William lashing out and running out into the street. He ends up running into some soldiers, one of whom is a friend. The soldiers ask if he’s been robbed, and William admits he has, but not of something anyone can get back for him. He feels like everything he’s known has been robbed from him, and he’s understandably angry about that.