They can make us bitter or teach us compassion.

They can blight our very existence, or they can make us stronger. “At the very least, the cadets need to understand that we all have burdens, don’t you agree, Commander? Some so weighty we carry them our whole lives.

In A Great Reckoning (#12), there is a quote about how I think that Louise Penny handles woundedness or trauma: What compels me is the grace that Penny writes about in the characters struggling to heal. What draws me to the Three Pines series is not that characters have wounds most people have some level of woundedness. In some of Penny’s storylines, untended wounds eat away at the goodness and beauty of a person, leading their wounds to spill over into the community.īut for some, there is still the possibility of repentance and change, even in the end. Old hurts fester until they find a release. While not explicitly addressed in the series, the tension between systemic and individual woundedness is ever-present. Oliver hid his sexuality from his father, and over time he learned to hide many other things (and lie to everyone). Ruth was jealous of her friend’s dating relationship, and she helped end that relationship, which created a wound in her soul that harmed Ruth’s ability to form relationships. In response to that wound, Peter wounded his family, particularly his sister, which harmed her relationship with her father. Peter Morrow’s mother was emotionally and physically withdrawn because of a physical disability that she refused to discuss or address. Virtually all characters in Penny’s book-whether they are short-term or main characters-are pushed to explore their wounds, their experiences. Later books spread that healing through Beauvoir, Lacoste, Ruth, Clara, Stephen, and others. Early in the series, Gamache seeks to train and replicate the healing in his own life. But Penny moves beyond that writing of emotional feedback loops in both directions (hurting people hurt people, and healing people seek to heal others). In this exchange between Inspector Gamache and Three Pines resident Emile Longpré from “A Fatal Grace,” we’re reminded of the old trope, “Hurt people, hurt people.” This adage is very real and an essential part of the methodology of solving homicides in the Gamache series.

We can't let someone drown where we were saved.” (p80) I think people who have had that experience and survived have a responsibility to help others. It wasn't a response he could have predicted. “I've been desperately unhappy in my life.' Her voice was quiet. Next week, we’ll host a discussion thread about A World of Curiosities. This week, we have an essay from Adam Shields, a book blogger and spiritual director, about trauma and healing in Louise Penny’s boooks. We hope everyone is recovering from the excitement of last week - a new book and a new TV series.

First gamache book