Outlander Book Club: Written in My Own Heart’s Blood Chapter 18 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

The chapter starts with William finding out that his orderly stole all of his things. William is not having a good start to the book. Most of his items don’t bother him. There’s just one item out of the lot, a locket with miniature portraits of his mother, Geneva, and his stepmother, Isobel.

We see just how connected he is to his family. He never knew his mother, but this is an important keepsake to him. It’s the only thing he has of her, and he’s always used it to see traces of her in him.

Now William looks in the mirror and sees everything of Jamie in him. It’s hard to miss it now, and it sends him into another spiral. This poor young man is trying to work out who he really is after years of lies, and I can’t help but feel for him.

He ends up getting drunk with some friends, and that’s when he hears a couple of dragoons talking about doing ungodly things to one of the prostitutes. Wiliam wants to protect her, so he decides to pay more than the dragoon Captain Harkness can.

William goes to her room and finds out that it’s the one he ran from earlier in the book. He apologizes for what he did, and then explains that he doesn’t want to sleep with her. He just wants to protect her. The two open up a little to each other, and William learns that the woman’s real name is Jane.

As they talk, they form a connection. In the end, William does sleep with Jane, and then he cries. His honor was all that he had left, and he broke his word to her. Jane questions him as to whether he thinks prostitutes don’t have honor, but William can’t answer that.

This is a huge moment in William’s journey. He has to rethink everything that he’s learned about himself and even about the world. Jane could help him do that.