Outlander Book Club: What is Lord John and the Custom of the Army about?

Are you almost ready for the next Lord John Grey book? Lord John and the Custom of the Army is the next one in our read-through, and this is a short novella. There are just six sections to the story.

This one picks up in 1759, shortly after the events of Lord John and the Haunted Soldier. Lord John Grey has been promoted due to his heroic efforts at the Battle of Crefeld, but he has some more personal matters to deal with as he is sent to Quebec.

What to expect in Lord John and the Custom of the Army

The book picks up in London 1759, and it starts with a duel that ends badly. John needs to lie low for a while before he starts his new commission. However, he ends up with an urgent summons.

It turns out that his friend, Charlie Carruthers, is facing court-martial in Canada. Charlie needs John to be a character witness, and so John heads off to Canada. He experiences life with the Indigenous people for the first time, and he soon realizes that it’s not just his friend’s life that he needs to defend.

On top of that, he comes across Malcolm Stubbs, who happens to be his cousin’s husband. Only Stubbs has landed himself in a precarious situation that involves an illegitimate child and a war injury.

If you have wondered about how John Cinnamon in Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone believes that Lord John Grey is his father, this is the story that you need to read. It starts of how John learns about Cinnamon in the first place, and also brings us a clearer connection to John and Cinnamon’s father.

This is a favorite of the novellas of mine, but I still enjoy seeing how the British captured Quebec.