Outlander Book Club: Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone Chapter 1 breakdown
Just the Outlander chapter
The chapter starts hours after the ending to Written in My Own Heart’s Blood. Claire and Jamie don’t really want to let their grandchildren go. Can you really blame them? Something that I adore is Claire checking on Mandy’s beating heart. While she thought that Mandy would have survived, there was always going to be some sort of doubt. Plus, Claire only last saw Mandy as a baby with a bad heart. The doctor and the grandmother in her would check for the beats.
While the MacKenzies are exhausted, they’re happy to be in the past. Roger makes it clear to Jem that they are home “for good.” They’re not planning on returning to their own time.
Claire and Jamie aren’t the only ones to welcome the MacKenzies back. Everyone at the Ridge shows them the hospitality they deserve. It’s clear that they were both greatly missed.
Bree and Jamie head out to see the foundation of the new house. Jamie notes that it’s a good thing that he decided to put in an extra room after all. Bree gives him a Craftsman chisel, which he can place under the hearth. It is iron, after all.
Meanwhile, Roger wants to know if Claire ever came across Buck. He decided to leave Buck in 1739, so I guess that explains why Buck’s death is recorded as the year that he went through the stones. Of course, something has to happen because Buck isn’t in Cranesmuir when Claire is. I’d love to know Buck’s story from this point.
Roger also notes one of the reasons they didn’t go to their own time. He says that they didn’t think Mandy would have a strong enough connection to anyone in the 20th century. Claire is curious about that, but it’s something to discuss at a later time.
Of course, Claire and Jamie later discuss some of their worries about the family being back. But they’re also so happy. There is such a mixture of emotions from them.
Jamie ends up talking about the night he realized that Faith had been conceived. I do find it an odd moment to bring this up, but this happens a few times with Jamie. I guess we just have to let his brain go where it goes. I’m just glad to see Faith isn’t forgotten about.