A Great Reckoning (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #12)

by Louise Penny

Though some of those lines led elsewhere. Into a wilderness, into the wild. Where terrible things had happened. Some of the lines of his face led to events inhuman and abominable. To horrific sights. To unspeakable acts.

The young men and women would also see the deep scar at his temple. It would tell them how close he’d come to dying. But the best of them would see not just the wound, but the healing. And they’d see, deep in his eyes, beyond the scar, beyond the pain, beyond even the happiness, something unexpected. Kindness.

Anyone could take something by force, but not many could get someone to surrender without a fight.

He was more powerful than anyone she’d ever met because he wasn’t at the mercy of the elements.

She sat down heavily on her side of the sofa, almost catapulting Ruth into the air. “I always suspected Ruth would end up a stain on the wall,” Gabri said to Clara. “But I never thought the ceiling.” He turned to Myrna. “I’ll give you five dollars to do that again. Maybe we can make this a game at the next fair. You win a stuffed duck.”

Ruth believed in precycling. An evolution on recycling. She made use of things before people threw them out.