Outlander Book Club: Written in My Own Heart’s Blood Chapter 22 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

The chapter starts with Claire writing to Denny. She needs to get out of the house, but someone still needs to take care of Hal. Denny is the man she trusts, and she assumes that he will be back in Philadelphia by now. She sends the letter to Mrs. Woodcock’s place, assuming that’s where Denny and Dottie will go since Henry is still there.

The letter does add some humor. Claire makes a comment about sticking an ax in Hal’s head, and also mentions not to bring Dottie to the house.

Claire heads off to find transport to Kingsessing. That comes in the form of Benedict Arnold, who seems like a nice man. It’s a shame that we know what’s to come for him in history. Claire doesn’t initially want to accept a lift from him, but she does in the end. And that’s when she starts to think about what’s to come for Benedict.

She knows that he is going to change sides, but she doesn’t know when exactly. Nor does she really know the reason why. She can’t quite gather that from the conversation they have. And I think this is important to note. We never really know what’s to come, but I think there is some foreshadowing in this chapter.

In the end, Claire gets to her destination and declines the ride back with Benedict later. She’ll find her own way home. But she does think about how time travelers could change things but Claire hasn’t really done that. She didn’t stop Charles Stuart, and I think she resigns to the idea that she can’t change Benedict Arnold’s decisions.