Newly arrived in America Jamie and Claire begin to build a life there, introducing us to characters and storylines outside their love story, which is pleasantly entertaining.
My favorite is Young Ian, who has a boyish humor to rival his Uncle Jamie’s, but unlike Jamie, who enjoys drawing a laugh, Ian is funny without intending to be. I think in his effort to emulate his Uncle Ian has developed the ability to be funny quite by accident, and it’s because his humor is so unintended that I caught myself laughing out loud as I read about him. But Ian’s innocence isn’t just evident in his humor; it’s also what enables him to accept Claire so completely.
Most characters are skeptical of Claire, who is so clearly not a woman of the 1700’s. But even the characters that love Jamie, his family and friends, seem wary of her. They’ll all have their own reasons for this; jealousy, lingering anger over her disappearance, and the question of just who or what she is. But to Ian all he sees is that Claire makes his Uncle happy, and thus he accepts her wholeheartedly. He doesn’t judge, he doesn’t speculate, he focuses only on what he can see with his own two eyes, and he sees and appreciates the bond Jamie and Claire have. Isn’t that how we should always view others, by what we see ourselves?
The offspring of Jamie and Claire also make an appearance, first in memories and then in reality, and given that Jamie has not been able to raise either of his children its interesting to see them through his eyes, which must be like looking in a mirror for the first time. We’ve rarely seen Jamie in the role of father, and his methods are sometimes strange, but Jamie had wisdom in abundance as a young man and that has increased with age, so I found him in many ways to be a natural as a parent, offering guidance and unconditional love through action and example, and fiercely protecting those he feels responsible for.
Jamie’s warrior is a bit subdued but he is still a man of the wilderness, and as such his animal instincts, and his intellect, are always evident. Claire still considers herself a doctor first and foremost, and while this is still odd given that women doctors are not widespread in Claire’s century, much less the 1700’s, it’s both comical and romantic that Jamie understands and encourages Claire’s need to heal people, through gifts and gestures only Claire could appreciate.
Jamie and Claire continue to share a rare bond, which I think serves as an example for all the young adults around them. But for the first time Claire contributes to this bond verbally. Claire has always showed her feelings through her actions; coming back to Jamie, taking care of his physical wounds, sharing his bed, and her internal dialogue offers clues to her feelings, but rarely does she speak those aloud. Jamie is the one with all the right words, and those words are both honest and poignant, expressing his feelings with a penetrating and beautiful clarity. But here Claire begins to speak about her feelings, and I felt a stronger sense of the panic and loneliness she must have endured without Jamie, and the intensity of her need for him. I could relate to this because in my own marriage it’s my husband who is better with spoken words, and I have trouble verbalizing my feelings, so I felt a bit of a kinship with Claire when she steps outside her comfort zone to put her feelings into words.
Oddly enough some of the verbal clues she offers of herself are to a rival of sorts, who was just as fascinating to read about as Young Ian. Lord John Grey has intellect and a sense of chivalry to match Jamie’s, but where Jamie tends toward brute force Grey is gentlemanly, which makes it so funny that he is capable and quite good at making the same blunt assessments Claire makes, though while hers are colorful in a foul way his are colorful in an elegant English tongue. Claire and Grey are more alike than either would probably want to admit, I and alternated between laughter and sorrow as they verbally sparred for Jamie’s attention, and begrudgingly conceded an understanding of their respective feelings for him.
Michele Lenard 