The Annotated Three Pines – A Fatal Grace

From Pg. 13
Back habitation Peter stared out the window, willing himself to become up and practise something constructive. Go into the studio, piece of work on his painting. Just and then he noticed the frost had been shaved off i of the panes. In the shape of a heart. He smiled and put his eye to it, seeing Three Pines going about its gentle business organization. So he looked upwardly, to the rambling quondam firm on the hill. The sometime Hadley house. And fifty-fifty as he looked the frost began to grow, filling in the heart with water ice.

Louise's Thoughts:
I deliberately started writing A FATAL GRACE in the wintertime, knowing it would help to be surrounded by all these details of a bitterly cold Quebec. The snow, the water ice, are obvious….but details similar the creeping frost can be forgotten. This too sets upwardly, early on, the standing theme in the series, of contrast. The middle filled with ice.

From Pg. 13
'Oh, yes. Each has a purpose. For instance, a Rasta man is great when he's hard, simply not a book.' Clara had laughed. They shared a disdain for hard books. Not the content, merely the cover. Hardcovers were just too hard to concur, especially in bed. 'Unlike a Rasta man,' said Myrna.

Louise's Thoughts:
Ha – had forgotten this passage. Myrna – what a scamp. But must say, I have not changed my mind about hardcovers. Love owning them…but I read in bed, often lying on my side, snuggled in. A hardcover can be a struggle.

From Pg. 22
Normally Ruth'southward slim volumes of poesy were slipped to an oblivious public following a launch at the bistro in 3 Pines. Just something astounding had happened. This elderly, wizened, bitter poet from Iii Pines had won the Governor-General's Laurels. Surprised the hell out of everyone. Non because she didn't deserve it. Clara knew her poems were stunning. Who hurt you one time so far beyond repair that y'all would greet each overture with curling lip? It was non always so.

Louise's Thoughts:
Ahhhh – dearest this poem. It's past Marilyn Plessner, from a volume cocky published by her friend after her death. I'thou and so happy I made, by some phenomenon, Ruth a poet. Again, dissimilarity. The embittered elderly poet, with such insight into the human being middle (sometimes filled with frost), and human condition. Later on in the series, equally you lot might know, nosotros observe out who hurt her once, 'so far beyond repair…'

From Pg. 154
The bistro was his secret weapon in tracking downwardly murderers. Not just in Three Pines, but in every town and hamlet in Quebec. First he found a comfortable café or brasserie, or chophouse, so he establish the murderer. Because Armand Gamache knew something many of his colleagues never figured out. Murder was deeply human, the murdered and the murderer.

Louise's Thoughts:
This is something I believe – that forensics are vital, of course, and Gamache does not ignore them, but honestly, writing about claret spatter patterns or Dna does not interest me. The emotions of the killer, and the emotions the dreadful act uncovers, are what bulldoze the books. And drives Gamache. But I knew, even every bit I wrote that, that information technology is securely unusual to have a primary graphic symbol, a cop, who is endlessly interested in people. Who cares.

From Pg. 166
'She'due south a librarian and she was saying in her experience when people use capital letters it's because the letters stand for something. Your title is I'one thousand FINE with the FINE in capitals.' 'She has brains, your wife. She's the starting time to observe that, or at to the lowest degree to ask. FINE stands for Fucked up, Insecure, Neurotic and Egotistical. I'm FINE.'

Louise's Thoughts:
I vest to a 12 pace program, which saved my life, and I'yard FINE is one of the phrases you often hear 'in the rooms', though I did modify it slightly to fit Ruth. I love how many people respond to this phrase,and recognize themselves. As I recognize myself! One of the great joys of writing Ruth is her degree of self-awareness. She'southward embittered and angry and loving and brilliant. And she tin laugh at herself. She is FINE. And so am I. You besides?