Outlander Book Club: Written in My Own Heart’s Blood Chapter 99 breakdown
Just the Outlander chapter
The chapter starts with Joe and Bree putting their test together for the children. Bree realizes that Boston Common is the best place for this. She and Jemmy get out of the car and wait while Joe drives around with Mandy.
Jem explains that Mandy is a red dot. He can see her for a lot of the drive around. As she gets further away, the dot is made smaller, but as she gets closer, it’s a brighter, larger dot.
Now the children switch places. I love that we see all this through Jem’s eyes, getting to see what he as a child focuses on. I do find it a little amusing that Diana Gabaldon said she did the 20-year time jump because children are boring and yet she does these chapters and they’re great.
Anyway, back to Jem, who wants to know if Joe is nervous. The two talk, and that’s when Jem suddenly panics that he can’t sense Mandy. He didn’t even realize. Joe turns the car around as Jem gets a stomachache from the panic. He can sense her when they get closer.
It turns out that Jemmy can sense Mandy for about a mile, but he senses his mother over a much shorter distance. Mandy, however, can sense the both for around four miles. This is important for going back.
Joe and Gail offer to go with Bree and the children to Scotland, realizing that that is the safest place to go through the stones to find Roger. Bree turns down the offer. She’ll be gone before anyone even realizes that she’s there. She just has a few things to take care of in Edinburgh.
That night, she reads a book to Jem. It’s the same book Frank used to read to her, which makes Jem bring up “Grandpa Frank.” Was he a good man? Bree thinks so. When you consider the view Bree had of her father growing up, that’s not surprising. He didn’t have to take Claire back, but he did, and he raised Bree as his own.
Jem wants to know if they’ll get to meet Frank. By the time Bree can answer, Jem has fallen asleep. I guess maybe they could with time travel, and I love that it’s left open like this.