A Trick of the Light (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #7)

by Louise Penny

After a while you get to know each other personally. Not just in shares.” “Shares?” Beauvoir asked. “Share of what?” “Sorry. That’s AA speak. A share is what you heard from Brian tonight. It’s a speech, but we don’t like to call it that. Makes it sound too much like a performance. So we call it sharing.” Chief Justice Pineault’s clever eyes picked up Beauvoir’s expression. “You find that funny?” “No sir,” said Beauvoir quickly. But they all knew it was a lie. He found it both funny and pathetic. “I did too,” Thierry admitted. “Before I joined AA. Thought words like ‘sharing’ were laughable. A crutch for stupid people. But I was wrong. It’s one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done. In our AA shares we need to be completely and brutally honest. It’s very painful. Like what Brian did tonight.” “Why do it if it’s so painful?” asked Beauvoir. “Because it’s also freeing. No one can hurt us, if we’re willing to admit our flaws, our secrets. Very powerful.” “You tell people your secrets?” asked Gamache. Thierry nodded. “Not everyone. We don’t take an ad out in the Gazette. But we tell people in AA.” “And that gets you sober?” asked Beauvoir. “It helps.”