Outlander Book Club: The Scottish Prisoner Chapter 29 breakdown

I do think The Scottish Prisoner Chapter 29 jumps ahead a little too quickly, but the focus is on the Jacobite conspiracy. Lord John Grey and Jamie Fraser need to make it back to Hal in London for that.

My problem is the murder investigation. Lord John Grey has been accused of murder, and he’s been broken out of prison. How could he possibly just get on a ship to England? It doesn’t make a lot of sense, to be honest.

But this is the story, and I just have to go with it. Let’s dive into the chapter.

Breaking down The Scottish Prisoner Chapter 29

It’s a rough journey back to England, but Lord John Grey, Jamie Fraser, and Tom Byrd all return to London and get to Hal’s house. Minnie immediately sends them for baths, and by the time John has finished, he sees Jamie and Minnie conspiring over the poem. It’s clear that their Jacobite minds work well together.

There is a lot to discuss, and Hal needs to get caught up on a few things. Hal wants to understand how Twelvetrees is involved, while Minnie wants to know what will happen to Siverly.

Well, Siverly is dead. John is shocked that Minnie is more concerned about that since a dead man can’t be court martialed. It turns out they can. This is something Minnie looked into, so I guess there’s a bit of hope in that there can still be some sort of justice against Siverly. I’m still confused at how John being accused of murder is just forgotten about.

While all this is going on, Jamie goes to see Comte de Tally. He goes armed with knowledge that Tally is part of the Rising and knows Quinn. Jamie wants Tally to give up the cause, sharing the truth with him. Claire told him what would happen and it did. Now she has told him that any more attempts at the Jacobite Cause are lost, and Jamie doesn’t want innocent people to die.

Tally shares that he is fighting for the Cause so that he can get back to Paris as a free man. That’s all he wants, but Jamie makes it clear that it won’t happen in this way.

I do like that Jamie has a bit of freedom to see Tally. He has proven that he is on the side of the Grey family multiple times. He could have left John in prison and ran away, but he didn’t. I’m glad to see the Greys honor their word by giving Jamie a little freedom. It sets the tone for changes at Helwater.

Could this chapter be used in a TV series adaptation?

Considering this is a big part of the Jacobite storyline, we would need to see The Scottish Prisoner Chapter  29 used if the book was ever adapted into a series. It covers far too much not to be used.

I would love to see Minnie’s fiery personality in this chapter. We need to see that she has beauty and brains, and that she has looked things up that the men wouldn’t even think of. I would also want to see Jamie have someone to share a little about Claire with. It doesn’t seem to hurt Jamie as much as usual, and I think that’s because talking about her gives him the opportunity to potentially save some people. So, I’d like to see it all play out.

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