Outlander Book Club: Written in My Own Heart’s Blood Chapter 12 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

The chapter starts with John, who is in irons and trying to sleep. Smith refuses to parole him. It’s strange that John is thinking about Smith in a sexual sense at one point considering his predicament. John also spends time thinking about what made Smith changes sides.

He hears Dottie in the camp. To get her attention, he starts to sing in German. However, it wakes Smith and he gets John to drink to shut up. The rest of the camp starts singing.

With Claire, we find out that she is still making sure Hal doesn’t die. The two have a chance to talk about Hal’s family, which is when Dottie is brought up. She’s with a Quaker and has converted to that religion, and we know how that Quaker is. Hal is shocked to learn the truth. Imagine what he’ll be like when he learns about Henry and Mercy!

Claire thinks about where John and Jamie are. She’s worried that Jamie learned the truth and has left her.

With Jamie, we find out that he is still laid up in bed with his back. He thinks about hunger and John. This leads to more back pain, and Jamie thinks about the last time this happened. It was when he was in the forest and Claire came to find him.

Some men come to the cabin, but Jamie manages to scare them away. It turns out that the men come to Mrs. Hardman and she goes to see them in the shed at night when the children are asleep. She thinks Jamie will expect this, but he makes it clear that he isn’t doing that. He starts to wonder what happened to Mr. Hardman, but that isn’t any of his business.

This part of the chapter is important. It shows us what the average person is dealing with as war affects the nation. This is often overlooked in books, but we get that chance to see that type of life through Jamie’s eyes.