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CTV News
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Cafe Three Pines brings author's work to life in Quebec's Eastern Townships
Cafe Three Pines in Quebec's Eastern Townships brings the fictional world of Louise Penny to life. A fictional world has come to life in the Eastern Townships. Cafe Three Pines is nestled below Brome Lake Books in Knowlton, and it's making a buzz. 'When I have people come from out of town I go, 'Do you want the Louise Penny tour?' and we just stop everywhere. And this is just a crown jewel,' one local woman said. If you know the name Louise Penny, then you know the world of Sûreté du Québec chief inspector Armand Gamache. You also know the mystery novel series and Three Pines, the fictional town where the series is set. 'This village of Three Pines, a fictional village, was my ideal. My ideal bakery, my ideal bookshop, my ideal everything. So this whole design, I write about two fireplaces, and it's really cool,' the famed Canadian author said. Cafe Three Pines boasts a cozy country-style decor with pieces from Penny's own home. She says much like her books, the cafe is a love letter to the province of Quebec, and realizing its vision took more than 20 years. 'I remember the first couple of launches we had for the books [..] 'Still Life' and 'Dead Cold,' and The Cruelest Month. Nobody came. [...] There was no overnight success,' Penny said. Author Louise Penny Author Louise Penny signs a book from her community in Quebec's Eastern Townships. (Anastasia Dextrene/CTV News) - Despite numerous accolades - including being named a New York Times best selling author- Penny exudes a grounded energy. She greets visitors from around the world as they shop, eat and read. 'The cafe has just added value to those that come here. They can sample, you know, what she's written about in her books - the Armand's favorite croissant sandwich, what we serve as the Gamache croissant,' cafe manager Brian Quilliams said. Visitors can enjoy Three Pines' latte art and even Penny's family recipes. But most of all, the author hopes to leave visitors knowing this: 'No matter who they are, no matter what they think. No matter what their political bent is, they're accepted here. They can come [to Cafe Three Pines] and they are safe,' she told CTV.
Montreal Gazette
02-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Montreal Gazette
‘Literary tourism is a huge thing,' Louise Penny says as Knowlton thrives as fictional Three Pines
By Three Pines is an imagined place and does not exist on any map. But the fictional village in which author Louise Penny has set most of her wildly successful Gamache novels is inspired by Knowlton — a very real place in the lovely Eastern Townships region of Quebec — and its surrounding hamlets. And from spring to fall, Three Pines tours, formal ones or the kind one organizes on one's own, are a hot ticket in the area. 'Louise has done so much for this town,' said Kirk Lawrence, a longtime friend of Penny's. 'Her fan base is surreal. People come from all over the world to see Three Pines.' At Brome Lake Books in Knowlton, a special corner is dedicated to Penny and free copies of the Three Pines Inspirations map are available. From the map, 'people can get a Three Pines feel. It's like a self-guided tour,' said Brome Lakes Books co-owner Danny McAuley. A copy can also be downloaded from the bookstore's website. In addition, a Three Pines map drawn by Penny's assistant, Lise Desrosiers, complete with some of the houses where the various characters live, can also be downloaded. Brome Lake Books carries Three Pines memorabilia, from mugs to coasters to T-shirts — as well, of course, as Penny's books. A hand-coloured puzzle based on Lise's map will soon be available for sale. Tourism Eastern Townships has a Three Pines inspirations map. And Karen Warren, retired professor of outdoor and experiential education in Amherst, Mass., who writes the Outdoor Adventure Sampler, organized her own Three Pines tour of the area. 'Literary tourism is a huge thing,' said Penny in an interview. 'People travel around the world to see places they have read about or are characters in books.' Melissa and Brian Whaley of Lee, N.H., travelled to the Townships for a few days in July because Melissa is a huge fan of the Gamache stories — the trip was a gift from Brian — and they wanted to see the places that had inspired the locations in the books. Their stops included the Abbey of St-Benoît-du-Lac, the inspiration for St-Gilbert-entre-les-loups in A Beautiful Mystery (2012), and La Rumeur Affamée in Sutton, the inspiration for Sarah's boulangerie in Three Pines. Melissa is currently re-reading the Gamache series — and loving it. To her, calling the books murder mysteries 'is grossly inadequate. 'They are an exploration of character — our failings and secrets, our idiosyncrasies, our inner beauty, our humanity. Her stories lead characters to forks in the road where they can choose life or death in metaphorical and real ways, while often not seeing but the half-step in front of them,' she said. 'Her stories are about community, both broken and redemptively life-giving just as it seems there is no hope or way. Friends and even some unlikely and tenuous allies show up and save the day. And then sometimes they don't, or they fall short — and grief lingers from book to book as it does in real life.' The Whaleys stopped by Café Three Pines, which is owned by Penny — and Penny happened to be there. Melissa was thrilled to meet the author in person. 'So to say that I was overwhelmed to walk into Louise Penny's new café and realize she was there … I mean I'd hoped, but to get to talk with her and tell her how much I love her books ...' Jim and Russetta Holcomb, visiting from Solana Beach, Calif., and staying at Hovey Manor in North Hatley, had not known Penny's work before arriving. Hovey Manor, it happens, is the inspiration for Manoir Bellechasse, where the Gamache novel A Rule Against Murder (2008) is set. 'The concierge enlightened us as to who she is and her story,' Jim said. Both voracious readers, they purchased two Gamache books there, then drove to Brome Lake Books for a copy of the most recent, The Grey Wolf (2024). Then they headed downstairs to the café. 'To our good fortune, Louise was at the coffee shop,' Jim said, 'and we had a beautiful encounter with her.' Local Johanne Gauvin, riding director for Brome-Missisquoi MNA Isabelle Charest and a fan who has read all 19 Gamache novels, dropped by the café that afternoon with her mother, Danielle Lauzon. 'We came to say hello,' she said. 'The café is fabulous.' In 2019, Charest presented Penny with the Medal of the National Assembly for bringing so much in the way of tourism to the region. 'I tried to explain that Quebec, that the Eastern Townships, that Knowlton have given me far more than I can ever give back, but, happily, the medal was already engraved,' Penny posted then on her Facebook page.
