Outlander Book Club: Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone Chapter 18 breakdown
Just the Outlander chapter
The chapter starts with Claire telling us where she has been. She’s played doctor and vet, setting a broken arm and helping to deliver piglets. It’s the latter that has her heading to a creek to wash as the smell is bad.
That’s when two men come upon her, asking for directions to Captain Cunningham’s place. There’s a storm coming, so Claire suggests that the two men head to her house where they can stay for the night. Jamie isn’t too impressed with that, but he does allow them in. Fanny notes that one of them is an officer, and she later tells Bree that he was at the brothel she and Jane were at.
Mr. Partland and his uncle Mr. Granger clearly make it clear that they’re not all that trustworthy. Mr. Granger looks like he will pull out a pistol to shoot Bluebell at first, and it’s clear that both of them have heard about Jamie, and they don’t like him. They’ve heard of the story of why he resigned from Washington’s Army, and it’s clear that they don’t respect him for his decision.
The two men want to talk about politics. It all starts with Mr. Granger sharing that Captain Cunningham rescued one of his ships and they have similar political opinions. Jamie doesn’t want to talk about this, but Mr. Partland refuses to not talk about it. He wants to get into it all, even when Granger clearly wants to respect Jamie’s wishes. It takes some time, but Jamie is able to turn the conversation to Granger’s rum trade.
After that, Jamie goes to see Rachel to ask about Cunningham. She notes that Cunningham invites Rachel to have tea. It’s been five years since anyone has seen tea, which is certainly suspicious. Jamie also talks to Bobby Higgins, who shares that Cunningham wants to preach. That could open the door for preaching about politics, so Jamie decides he needs to get Roger to talk to the man.
As all that goes on, we get a moment with Fanny and Brianna. Bree is such a warm, motherly figure to Fanny. It’s while they’re in the cellar collecting items for the guests that Fanny opens up about the brothel and her sister. We’ve not seen Fanny get all that emotional about the loss of Jane, but she does in this moment. I love that Bree was the one there to comfort her through this.