Week Two of Outlander Read Along Club : Chapters 6 - 10
Welcome to Week Two of Outlander Read Along Club : Chapters 6 - 10
This post is intended for anyone who is finishing up the streaming series and knows the Outlander story who now feels like picking up the first Outlander novel for a reread or first time read and doesn't mind spoilers
Summary of Chapters 6 thru 10:
Our intrepid protagonist finds herself somehow an Englishwoman alone in the Scottish Highlands of 1743. Fortunately, she has found refuge with Clan Mackenzie at Castle Leoch. Unfortunately, everyone is curious about who she is and how she came to be there and Claire is faced with the dilemma of believably accounting for her presence as well as not raising the sort of suspicions that could get her into trouble
She is a bit less cautious when it comes to the person of Jamie MacTavish, the young man whose injuries she tended to on arrival. He injures himself again by choosing to take a young girl's punishment, though opting for being pummeled by the fists of a giant rather than hit with a strap. There isn't much Claire can do to help young Jamie after his ordeal, but she goes to him anyway and learns more about local healing techniques from the indomitable Mrs. Fitz
She also later brings a lunch basket to the stables to find Jamie with the idea of checking on his bandages, but forgets to check them. Colum, laird of Leoch, notices her interest in healing and appoints Claire the castle healer. Davey Beaton, the former healer, set a low bar and she will do comparatively well in his place
Now with a place at the Castle, Claire settles into the pace of life there as she works in the kitchen garden, tends patients, and brings picnic lunches to her favorite patient who still hasn't allowed her to change that bandage
And doesn't until after an evening concert when, having been plied with alcohol by a Colum trying to figure out who she really is, an intoxicated Claire is escorted back to her room by a gallant Jamie who asks for them to finally be removed
Despite having had another intimate conversation with the only other individual at Castle Leoch who appears to be an outsider and alone, and him having invited her out to see a foal the following day, that following day sees Jamie instead spending time with the young Laoghaire who he took a beating for. Claire catches them kissing in a castle alcove and they share a shrug. Claire later teases him about it and is informed by the horse master, Auld Alec, young Jamie should be with a woman, not a girl. Claire has no idea what he could mean by that
Claire meets Geillis Duncan, the fiscal's wife from town while gathering fruit outside the castle with a group of women. Geillis is friendly if gossipy and strange. Dougal, the laird's brother who first brought Claire to Leoch, brings Claire to visit Geillis at her home and get healing supplies from her workshop since the MacKenzies are expecting a large gathering of guests soon
While there Claire advocates for a young boy accused of stealing to get a lesser punishment and Geillis makes that happen. Later, when Jamie MacTavish picks her up she convinces him to help the boy further by removing the nail that attaches his ear to the pillory while she faints to create a diversion
As the MacKenzies are busy with all the Clansmen swearing allegiance to their laird at The Gathering, Claire decides it's a good time to escape. But, she trips over young Jamie in the stables and he escorts her back to the Castle. It turns out he was hiding to avoid swearing an oath as swearing it would cause one uncle to kill him, but not swearing it would cause the entire clan to kill him. Jamie successfully walks the tightrope and walks away with the Clan's goodwill despite not swearing the oath
That night Claire is saved from drunken Clansmen by Dougal and then forceably kissed by him. The next day Claire gains Dougal's respect as she treats a fallen boar hunter in the woods. Having brought her to Castle Leoch Dougal now wants to take Claire away on a rent collecting party. He tells her as she enters the stable looking for Jamie again
3rd week - Saturday, May 16th - Chapters 11 - 15
4th week - Saturday, May 23rd - Chapters 16 - 20
5th week - Saturday, May 30th - Chapters 21 - 25
6th week - Saturday, June 6th - Chapters 26 - 30
7th week - Saturday, June 13th - Chapters 31 - 35
8th week - Saturday, June 20th - Chapters 36 - 41
Recent Previous Reading Group https://www.reddit.com/r/Outlander/s/HTrJcjTF4c