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.
