Outlander

Claire is saved from the wolf attack by a man that looks like a bear. “The bear,” as Claire calls him, takes her back to his cottage. Claire introduces herself as a Fraser by marriage and the bear introduces himself as Sir Marcus MacRannoch. Sir Marcus MacRannoch is hesitant to help Claire free her husband until Murtagh arrives and clarifies that Jamie is Ellen MacKenzie’s son. Murtagh says he recognizes Sir Marcus MacRannoch from a Gathering at Castle Leoch, and it is revealed that Sir Marcus MacRannoch was the secret admirer who gave Ellen the pearls Claire now owns. Murtagh sends a stampede of Sir Marcus MacRannoch’s cattle onto the Wentworth Prison. Sir Marcus bursts into Sir Fletcher Gordon’s office and accuses him of housing stolen cattle. It is then that Randall is caught torturing Jamie. Murtagh and the MacKenzie men grab Jamie and take him back to Sir Marcus’s house for care.

Claire musters her strength to repair Jamie’s injured hand without cracking under her sadness at seeing Jamie in pain. After hours of treating Jamie, Claire starts to nod off and Sir Marcus insists on taking over treating Jamie’s wounds. Claire turns back to tell Sir Marcus how to bandage the cuts but stops when she hears Sir Marcus and Jamie in conversation. Jamie starts when Sir Marcus puts his hand on Jamie’s bare bottom to reach over him. Sir Marcus informs Jamie that Randall is dead—trampled by cattle at Wentworth. Sir Marcus advises Jamie not to try to forget about the rape and torture but in time allow Claire to comfort him. Jamie lets Sir Marcus help him cut something out of his chest.

Claire wakes up in the middle of the night and goes to check on Jamie. Jamie awakens when she stands by his side. Jamie experiences a range of emotions, from wanting to hold Claire and never let her go, to vigorously make love to her to crying in her lap. He lists wanting to hit someone, burn down Wentworth Prison, and sleep. “[M]y mind’s at war wi’ me, and my body’s turned traitor,” Jamie explains (1058). Claire asks Jamie what Sir Marcus cut from his chest. Jamie replies that he extracted the piece of flesh where Randall had carved his initials into Jamie’s breast. Jamie tells Claire that he was raped repeatedly by Randall. Jamie claims that everyone has a small, private place inside of themselves, like a fortress, that they only show to people they love greatly, and Captain Randall’s assault felt to him like his fortress had been blown up with gunpowder. Jamie cries that he has nowhere to hide. Jamie admits to Claire that he has been close to death a few times, but the torture and rape from Captain Randall was the first time that he wanted to die. Claire soothes Jamie and puts him to sleep.

Claire, Murtagh, and Jamie prepare to flee to France. As they set off on the road, Sir Marcus instructs Claire to tell the English that they are guests of his if they are stopped. The party is stopped by four English soldiers, who are looking for the escaped prisoners from Wentworth. They interrogate Jamie about his illness. Murtagh, Jamie, and Claire fight and kill three of the soldiers. Claire pursues and kills the fourth English soldier, a very young man, much to her distress.

Jamie, Claire, and Murtagh board the Cristabel ship to France to find refuge at Jamie’s uncle’s abbey. Claire is shocked by the severity of Jamie’s seasickness. Murtagh forces Jamie to take drugs so he can rest. At long last, Murtagh points out the French coast ahead. In a matter of hours, Claire looks up at the gates of Abbey of Ste. Anne de Beaupré.

Upon arriving at the abbey, Claire notices the physical similarities between Jamie and his uncle Abbot Alexander. After Claire inquires about Jamie’s whereabouts, Alexander informs Claire that the monks have taken Jamie to bathe him.

Claire wakes up from a nightmare and goes to see Jamie in the middle of the night. She finds him in the arms of a monk, bleeding. The monk, who happened to be passing by on the way to the chapel, explains to Claire that Jamie also had a nightmare, and his movement affected his wounds. Jamie cannot stand the smell of lavender in the room, which reminds him of Captain Randall. Claire notices that the monk is a Franciscan.

The next morning, Claire feels better, but Jamie is queasy and irritable, refusing to eat or allow Claire to dress his wounds. After losing his patience with her, Jamie apologizes, claiming that his bowels are “griping” (1086). Claire asks what he means, while noting to herself the distinction between romance and intimacy, but Jamie does not explain further.

Claire meets Francois Anselm Mericoeur d’Armagnac, or Father Anselm, the monk who assisted Jamie in the middle of the night. Claire gleans that Father Anselm is a visitor at the abbey by his Franciscan black robes. Anselm is there to translate the works of Herodotus. Anselm suggests that Claire accompany him to see the library. Claire asks Anselm what perpetual adoration is. Anselm replies that it is the symbolic act of waiting out the hours of Christ’s trial to make up for Christ’s followers falling asleep in the story of Gethsemane. Anselm explains that each watcher picks an hour that suits them best, and his is 2am, when he feels that “[…] time has stopped” (1091).

Claire returns to check on Jamie. Jamie refuses milk and broth, claiming no appetite. He shares with Claire that he had been dreaming of being flogged. Though Jamie cannot sleep, he refuses to take any drugs to induce rest. Claire offers to make a pallet on the floor and stay with Jamie overnight, but he refuses her, imploring her to find her own supper and bed.

Claire grows more worried about Jamie as his condition worsens. She passes her days at the abbey drying plants with Brother Ambrose at the herbarium or wandering the abbey grounds. Brother Ambrose invites Claire to join him in the chapel that night after observing that since Jamie doesn’t sleep neither does Claire. Claire agrees. That night, Claire spends time in the chapel contemplating the possibility of loving Frank and Jamie at the same time.

On her way to her routine morning assessment of Jamie’s condition, Claire is stopped by Murtagh, who tells Claire that Jamie does not want to see her. Nevertheless, Claire bursts into the room. She assures Jamie that she will not touch him, but she insists that he talk to her. Jamie tells Claire that he should have let Randall kill him. Jamie shares the details of his interaction with Randall—that Randall would torture him, then sexually arouse him, then torture him again in succession. “He did not just hurt me, or use me,” Jamie reveals, “He made love to me” (1107). Jamie elaborates on the first time Randall made love to him, telling Claire that Randall used oil, treated him with care, and touched him gently. “I could no more stop myself from rising to his touch than I could stop myself bleeding when he cut me,” Jamie says (1107). Jamie confesses to Claire that though he still loves her, touching her brings up painful memories of Randall. He tells her to go back to Craigh na Dun and to Frank because he can no longer be her husband. Claire tries to comfort him, but Jamie refuses her. Claire leaves his chambers.

Jamie gets a fever due to his infected hand. On the second day, Jamie begins to hallucinate. In one of Jamie’s lucid moments, he asks Claire to let him die. Claire asks the monks to let her spend the night with Jamie alone. She intends on using ammonia, dried lavender, valerian, incense, and opium to summon a ghost. Claire lights opium smoke in an attempt to make Jamie fall into a trance. Using the opium, Claire summons Randall’s spirit from the darkness. Imitating Randall, Claire caresses Jamie as Frank used to caress her, then implores him to fight her. Claire draws a knife across Jamie’s chest, just as Randall had done. “Now kiss me,” she whispers in Randall’s accent (1127). Jamie hurls Claire across the room and gets up off the bed. Jamie attempts to corner Claire and grab her. Before the candle burns out, Claire sees Jamie crouched on the floor, blue-eyes murderous and penis erect, looking like a Viking. Opium clogs Claire’s lungs, and she begins to see flashes of light.

Jamie and Claire fall locked together on the floor, Jamie’s hand clutching Claire’s breast. In his opium-induced state, Jamie mistakes Claire for his mother. Claire implores Jamie to lay his head on her chest and rest. Jamie and Claire are discovered half naked in the morning by Brother Williams. Jamie hoarsely asks Brother Williams to fetch him some food. Jamie falls asleep out of exhaustion.

When Claire awakens, she finds Anselm sitting by her window reading. She asks if she can confess to him, though he is merely a scholar. Anselm suggests that he find another monk as he usually does not take confessions, though it is technically permissible. Claire insists on having Anselm hear her confess. She reveals her time travels to Anselm. Later, over warm pastries in the abbey kitchens, Claire consults Anselm on the morality of her knowledge of the future, and he advises her to use it as a tool. Claire shares her shame over killing the young English soldier to protect Jamie as well as her sadness over leaving Frank. Anselm assuages her guilt about tampering with the past by reminding her that everyone’s actions affect the future, not just hers. As for her two marriages, Anselm replies, “No man can serve two masters, and no more can a woman” (1150-151).

Jamie grows angry at his confinement and demands bread and meat instead of broth and milk, though he cannot yet stomach solid food. Claire goes to Jamie’s room to find Jamie gone and Murtagh sitting in his place. Murtagh informs Claire that Jamie escaped out the window in nothing but his skin. Horrified, Claire pursues Jamie. Claire finds Jamie half-naked on the road. Jamie confides in Claire that towards the end of his time with Randall, Randall kept asking Jamie to tell him that he loved him, but Jamie could not. He remembers being tender to Randall and holding him when Randall told him that he loved him, but Jamie could not say the words back. “If I had told him that,” Jamie reflects, “he would have killed me” (1162). In retaliation for Jamie’s refusal of love, Randall rapes him again. Jamie remembers that during the sexual torture, Randall kept calling him Alex. Claire recalls that Randall had a brother called Alex.

In bed, Claire realizes that the abbey is only a temporary sanctuary and that she and Jamie must soon decide where they will go next. Claire muses over the changes in history that have already taken place: Although Frank’s historical records show that Randall died married and with a son on April 17, 1745, in 1743 Scotland, Randall dies a childless bachelor. Claire wonders if Frank will be born now that Randall has died without an heir.

Jamie shows up at Claire’s bedroom door after a night of sleepless loneliness in his own recovery room. Though Claire wakes up with a half-scream and tells Jamie he should not be out of bed, she allows him under the covers. The couple make love, slowly, for the first time since Jamie’s injury. Feeling Jamie tiring, Claire instructs Jamie to climax, softly whispering, “come to me. Now!” (1166). Jamie yields. Afterwards, Claire confesses that she was afraid Jamie would not be able to bare the pleasure and vigor of love making. Claire notes that the Victorians called sex the “little death” for good reason (1167). Claire concedes that Jamie can have an egg for breakfast the next morning.

Claire finds Jamie in his room, holding his injured hand and crying. Claire apologizes for not being able to fully repair his wound. Jamie clarifies that he is crying for joy that he has use of his hand at all.

Jamie shows Claire a letter of introduction from his French uncle, Abbot Alexander, to His Majesty King James of Scotland, presenting Jamie as a translator. However, Jamie announces that it is Claire’s decision where they go to start their new life. “I meant it Claire,” Jamie says, “My life is yours. And it’s yours to decide what we shall do, where we go next” (1174).

Claire and Jamie receive presents from Sir Marcus: a pearl bracelet that matches the necklace he gave to Jamie’s mother Ellen all those years ago and that Jamie in turn gifted Claire, and a wolf hide. Claire realizes that the wolf hide is made of the fur of the wolf that almost killed her at Wentworth Prison.

Claire tells Jamie about the incident at Wentworth Prison: How Captain Randall pushed her out into a pile of dead bodies, how she was attacked by a wolf and sought refuge at Sir Marcus’s house, how Murtagh found her and rescued Jamie. Jamie tells Claire to undress and put on her robe. Jamie leads Claire through the castle and out into a dark hot spring, which is said to have healing powers.

Claire decides that the couple will take refuge in Rome. As Claire enters the warm water, Jamie teases her that he likes the squeaking sound she makes. The couple make love repeatedly in the hot spring. Jamie implores Claire to wait to climax, telling her, “Not yet. We’ve time,” implying the book’s theme of the possibility of new beginnings (1185). Claire echoes this sense of possibility, noting that the moon above them is a Christmas moon. Claire tells Jamie that she has a gift for him and presses his hand over her newly-pregnant stomach.