Mrs. Graham

Mrs. Graham was the friendly and charming housekeeper of the Reverend Wakefield in Outlander. She lived in Inverness, and was the leader of a modern-day druid society that observes ancient pagan festivals. She also did palm reading and tea-leaf reading.

Personal History[]

By 1945, she was widowed with grown children.^[2]

Events of the Novels[]

While Frank and the Reverend Reginald Wakefield are nose deep in dusty old papers researching Frank's ancestor Jonathan Randall, the Reverend's housekeeper, Mrs. Graham, serves tea, but guessing Claire's boredom, invites her to take tea with her in the kitchen. Claire jumps at the offer. In the kitchen, Mrs. Graham reads Claire's tea leaves, but says the reading is contradictory. They indicate she will go on a journey, but will at the same time, stay put. They also indicate that she will meet several strangers and among them, her husband. Claire takes it to mean after six years apart and six months together, her husband was something of a stranger.

Mrs. Graham asks to read Claire's palm and again is confused with what she sees. Claire asks if her fate is too horrible to conceive, but Mrs. Graham says the lines of the palm only indicate what the person is, that they change over time. A person's fate is in the hand, but only the seed of it. She says that Claire's hand already shows a lot of change which she attributes to the War. Claire asks what she is then.

Mrs. Graham explains that most hands have a likeness to them, not that they are all the same, but there are patterns. That is how fortune telling works, she might be looking at the person's hand, but she'll also observe the person herself. If a young girl has a low-cut blouse, cheap scent and large earrings, she doesn't need a crystal ball to tell her she'll have a child before the next year. However, Claire's pattern is not one she's seen before. She points out that Claire has a strong thumb which indicates she's strong-minded and not easily crossed. She shows Claire her Mount of Venus at the base of her thumb and says it means Claire's husband is not likely to stray too far from her bed.

Claire's lifeline is well-marked meaning she's in good health, but it's chopped up meaning her life's changed markedly. And her marriage line is divided, meaning two marriages. Claire is shocked, but Mrs. Graham says it doesn't mean she'll have two marriages, it means she's not one to pine away her life in mourning, that she can love again if her first love is lost. However, her marriage line is unusual in that it is forked and Mrs. Graham teases her about being a bigamist. Claire jokes when would she have time.

On the night before Beltane, Frank tells Claire that he wishes to get up early to see the witches who observe the rituals on the old sun-feast days. Claire is incredulous to learn that Mrs. Graham is one of them and that the reverend is supportive of it. The next morning, Claire is surprised to see that Mrs. Graham is indeed among the women who range from Mrs. Graham's sixty-odd years to a young woman in her early twenties. Mrs. Graham leads the women through their dance as the sun rises in the east and strikes the great split stone.

In the town of Cranesmuir at the home of Geillis Duncan Claire is reminded of Mrs. Graham when Geillis attempts to do a reading in a scrying mirror and that Geillis's collection of herbs and spices matched that of Mrs. Grahams's.

When Claire and Murtagh are wandering around the Highlands looking for Jamie, Claire earns them money by singing and fortune telling, finding that Mrs. Graham's advice had been spot on and that led to Claire's small success.

Roger Wakefield offers his condolences to Fiona Graham, for the death of her grandmother, Mrs. Graham. He asks if it was quick, and Fiona indicates she simply went to sleep and never woke up. Roger recalls that Mrs. Graham had provided an abundant supply of firm, no-nonsense maternal affection for him when he was at home.

A entry in the journal of the Reverend Reginald Wakefield, dated May 7, 1948 read: "Mrs. Graham ill this week -- she could have chosen a better time; jumble sale next week, and the porch full of old clothes..."

Another journal entry indicated Mrs. Graham had an appendectomy.

Personality[]

Roger recalls that she provided a firm, no-nonsense affection for him when he was growing up.^[2]

Physical Appearance[]

Mrs. Graham had short, iron-grey hair styled in a perm. She was tall and stringy, with a long neck. Her hands were bony, but warm. She smelled of lavender water.