Voyager, by Diana Gabaldon
Chapter 20: Diagnosis

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Claire begins to put plans into place for her return to Scotland. Her first visit is to the hospital, where she meets with her closest friend and confidant, Dr. Joe Abernathy. Dr. Abernathy is disconcerted with his son Lenny’s desire to find his heritage, something he feels is necessary as he prepares to go to college. Looking back in the historical records, Lenny decides to change his name to Muhammad Ishmael Shabazz III, feeling that this name more fully (and accurately) describes his African heritage. Dr. Abernathy and Claire go on to discuss heritage and he concludes that Claire is lucky that Bree doesn’t have to question her heritage, and Claire responds with an ironic reply: “That’s what you think.” This then brings her to the point of telling him that Bree is in Scotland “looking for her history” when they are interrupted by the arrival of a young man who would like a medical opinion about a deteriorated skull and bones. Assuming that the specimen is in need of further identification and that the young man is from the coroner’s office, she is invited by Dr. Abernathy to stay and assist him.

Referring to Claire’s uncanny ability to diagnose patients, he asks her to give her opinion on this arrival, to see if she can do the same by determining the cause of death. A first look by Dr. Abernathy helps him to determine that the skull belonged to a woman in her late forties to middle fifties, and then asks for the leg bones as he hands the skull to Claire. She concurs with Dr. Abernathy’s conclusion that the skull belonged to what was once a probably very attractive woman and she - “…held it close against my stomach, eyes closed, and felt the shifting sadness, filling the cavity of the skull like running water. And an odd faint sense—of surprise? “Someone killed her,” I said. “She didn’t want to die.” I my eyes to find Horace Thompson staring at me, his own eyes wide in his round, pale face. I handed him the skull, very gingerly. “Where did you find her?” I asked. Mr. Thompson exchanged glances with Joe, then looked back at me, both eyebrows still high. “She’s from a cave in the Caribbean,” he said. “There were a lot of artifacts with her. We think she’s maybe between a hundred-fifty and two hundred years old.”Voyager (p. 278). Dell. Kindle Edition./Trade ppbk.

Noting Claire’s shock at the fact that this was not a recent find that the young man was intending to identify, Dr. Abernathy tells her that the young man is actually from the anthropology department at Harvard. Claire and Dr. Abernathy continue looking at the skull, which was found to be nearly completely hacked off, with “a dull blade”. The student looks at Claire and asks, “How did you know she’d been killed, Dr. Randall?” he asked. I could feel the blood rising in my face. “I don’t know,” I said. “I—she—felt like it, that’s all.” “Really?” He blinked a few times, but didn’t press me further. “How odd.” “She does it all the time,” Joe informed him, squinting at the femur he was measuring with a pair of calipers. “Mostly on live people, though. Best diagnostician I ever saw.” He set down the calipers and picked up a small plastic ruler. “A cave, you said?”Voyager (p. 279)

The student, Horace Thompson, was under the impression that the woman was buried in the cave as part of a secret burial, but Joe disabuses him of that notion by pointing out that his examination of the femur indicate very clearly that the woman was not a slave, she was white. Horace seems unconvinced, and Joe tells Claire: “Want to bet he takes her down to Rutgers for a second opinion?” “Academics don’t give up theories easily,” I said, shrugging. “I lived with one long enough to know that.” Voyager (p. 280).

With the departure of Horace Thompson, Joe and Claire resume their conversation, and Claire tells him that she wants his honest opinion, as a man, about her looks. Good naturedly laughing and giving her, in no uncertain terms, his opinion that she is a very physically attractive woman and concludes that this could mean only one thing – actually two. Claire had a man, and the man was Bree’s father. Shocked that he has correctly determined her point in asking the question, Claire decides to move forward with her plans and tells him that is what she is here to ask him – Bree is in Scotland, where her father is from. Giddy at the freedom of finally being able to talk about Jamie and admit, out loud, that Bree is just like him, she resigns from her position at the hospital and formally puts her life in Boston behind: “I drove out of the parking lot, I experienced a feeling of mingled panic, regret, and elation. I was on my way.”
Voyager (p. 283).


Some thoughts-please share yours...

*Joe and Claire’s friendship and complete trust in one another is evident in their conversation in this chapter – there are no holds barred! Could this be the reason Frank was so jealous of Joe? Was this part of what Claire was referring to, when she said she was aware that “Academics don’t give up theories easily”?

*Claire’s uncanny ability to diagnose patients, as she did in Dragonfly in Amber at L’Hospital de Agnes, has obviously followed her into her practice in the 20th century. What did you think about her method of repeating this success, with the skull brought in by Horace Thompson?

*For over 20 years, Claire has been trying to believe that the world saw what she wanted them to – her, Frank and Bree as a family, and trying to forget about Jamie because she knows she can’t speak freely about him – to anyone. Being able to confide in Joe must have been a huge relief in so many ways. How do you think keeping her secret about Jamie affect Claire, in other ways?

I love the honesty between Claire and Joe. She is lucky to have a friend like that to whom she could (eventually) tell her story before she goes back through the stones. I hadn't considered that the comment about academics and their theories could be about her and Joe - I assumed it was related to Frank's academic work - but now that you mention it, it seems like a good possibility. Frank did seem rather set on that false idea. And, I absolutely love Joe's honest analysis about her looks. He's got a good sense of humor.

This diagnosis seemed even more uncanny IMO than the ones in Dragonfly, possibly because the patient was dead (as Joe pointed out). But, we knew Claire had an affinity with bones (like those in Master Raymond's shop - and did she ever touch the ones she and Jamie found in the cave after the miscarriage?). I'm not sure if we're discussing this yet, but it wasn't until my first re-kilt of this book that I picked up on the clues that we know who she is and will find out about her death later in this book (is that too spoiler-y? or OK because we can discuss all of Voyager in these threads?).

On my first re-kilt (which was actually my first listen), I had a major Aha! moment when I heard that scene and thought to myself: "I know who that is and what happened to her!" Very well done on DG's part and the sort of thing many readers who don't re-kilt likely completely missed.

^That's awesome, ABL!

What was everyone's reaction to this, did you know who the mystery woman was the first time reading this chapter, first time reading the whole book, or a re-kilt or more later?

I can't imagine anyone could have known at this point of a first-read-through since we don't yet know what happened. But, maybe some people remembered this scene once they got to the end of the book and realized the connection? That was more than I was able to do.

I have to admit that one of the biggest surprise/aha moments I had in reading the series (so far) is when the lightbulb went off in my head, long after I finished Voyager, that I knew who the bones in Joe's office were. And I love the shout out that DG gives in this chapter to Herman Melville (when Joe says "Call me Ishmael")!

, Bloom, that was terrific!

I think DG has an uncanny knack of planting small clues amongst the narrative, which is only really picked up on in further reading - On first reading I didn't understand why this section needed to focus on those bones - unless it was to reiterate the respect and understanding that flowed between Abernathy and Claire.

Having worked in a medical environment for all of my professional life - I know that you do form very close bonds with your medical colleagues, after all you've been together through life and death situations, so I understood completely that Claire could ask Joe for an unbiased opinion about her looks, and possible attractiveness to other men....and that he would give an honest appraisal....

Joe Abernathy is one of my favourite peripheral characters - I love his humour and common sense.

Two points struck me in my rekilt of this chapter (OK, I still can't count).

Claire, holding the skull, now has her fingerprints in the 20th C as well as her fingerprints on the ax from the 18th C in the artifacts. If forensic science (as exemplified by recent TV shows) gets good enough, they will be able to identify her as the killer? Her past has caught up with her. She must flee to the past to escape justice in the 20th C. OK, that may be far fetched, but some may enjoy the humor.

On a more literary note, Joe Abernathy provides us with a foretelling here in his discussion of his high school reunion. Joe means to tell Claire how she has not changed. When Claire returns to the 18th C, notice how often she repeats Joe's identification process to recognize old friends and (Jamie's) family.

Additional thoughts include Joe's observation of Claire's (too much) hair. That "character" is alive and well.

Joe has been polite for ten years in not commenting on Brianna's daddy. Now the truth is out, he has been suspicious for a long time. If obvious to Joe, how many others have observed the differences between Brianna and Frank and wondered about Claire's past? Has this diminished sympathy for her during Frank's philandering?

Me too, Sassenach...and thank you for sharing your personal experience working with medical colleagues and their honest personal opinions over time, seeing it from that perspective makes the friendship he and Claire have even more special.



Very intriguing thoughts, Repoman...identifying her as the killer and escaping justice is not so far fetched, to me. I totally get, and enjoy the humor in that! After all, she can _really_ disappear into a different century!

Loved the "Claire's hair as a character" reference...her hair really is "timeless", aye?

Your thought about diminished sympathy for her/Frank's philandering given the obvious physical differences between Bree and either of her parents has me - what does everyone think?

The way that Horace is looking at Claire has an almost eerie quality to it, Shades of Cranesmuir. The 20th century is just as freaked out about Claire as they were in the 18th.