Book Club Friends Discussion Guide For:
The Long Way Home by Louise Penny
The Long Way Home is Book #10 of the Chief Inspector Gamache series
Happily retired in the village of Three Pines, Armand Gamache, former Chief Inspector of Homicide with the Sûreté du Québec, has found a peace he’d only imagined possible. On warm summer mornings he sits on a bench holding a small book, The Balm in Gilead, in his large hands. “There is a balm in Gilead,” his neighbor Clara Morrow reads from the dust jacket, “to make the wounded whole.”
Published: 2014
The Long Way Home Discussions
Please note that all discussions may contain spoilers.
Detecting The Wisdom of Gamache
Sleuth work: The Wisdom of Gamache in The Long Way Home: Identify phrases in this book that embrace Gamache’s approach to life. ONLY comment with the phrase! Discussion of the selected phrase will take place next week after Louise reveals her phrase.13/08/2024The spirit of the Three Pines community
Identify a passage or scene that embraces the spirit of Three Pines in The Long Way Home. What does the phrase or scene mean to you? How does it inspire you?14/08/2024The humour of Louise Penny
What’s your favourite passage or scene that demonstrates Louise’s humour in The Long Way Home?15/08/2024An insight into human nature
Identify a passage or scene that demonstrates an insight into human nature in The Long Way Home. Discuss the quote or scene and what it means to you or how it has impacted you.16/08/2024A historical detail of interest
In The Long Way Home, did you pick up on any historical or geographical details of interest? Tell us about it and what you appreciated learning about in The Long Way Home.17/08/2024An enticing food moment
Tell us about your favourite food moment in The Long Way Home! Has the food in this book inspired you to try a new dish or bake/cook something new?18/08/2024Discussion of The Wisdom of Gamache phrase chosen by Louise Penny
Discuss The Wisdom of Gamache phrase chosen by Louise. What does this phrase mean to you? How does it inspire you?20/08/2024There is so much about art and the creative process in this book. How do we see that unfold in the lives not only of Clara and Peter, but also of Norman and Massey?
For example, what do you make of the Salon des Refusés? What do you think it meant to the artists themselves?07/12/2023What are the darkest and the lightest points in this novel? What are some humorous moments, and how did you respond to them?
Louise has sometimes talked about the importance of chiaroscuro — the play of light and shadow — in her work.08/12/2023
The Long Way Home characters are listed in alphabetical order. Any new additions will be listed on the bottom row, along with credit to the contributor.
*Note: New entries may take up to five minutes to appear.
Food mentioned in The Long Way Home in order of appearance. Any new additions will be listed on the bottom row, along with credit to the contributor.
*Note: New entries may take up to five minutes to appear.
La Malbaie airport
Sept-Îles
Port-Menier
Baie-Saint-Paul
Published on Book Club Friends with permission from Louise Penny.
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Want to know more about Ruth Zardo’s Poetry?
“I’m so happy I made, by some miracle, Ruth a poet. Again, contrast. The embittered elderly poet, with such insight into the human heart (sometimes filled with frost), and human condition. Later in the series, as you might know, we find out who hurt her once, ‘so far beyond repair…”
“I wish I could take credit for the poetry, but the fact is, the poetry is mostly from two works…Margaret Atwood’s Morning in the Burned House…and a privately published book by the late Marylyn Plessner.” ― Louise Penny
Louise also credits Leonard Cohen, Stevie Smith, Ralph Hodgson, Mike Freeman, Liz Davidson, Robert Service, and W.H. Auden for poetry quoted in her books.
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Lady Mink: A Sort of Requiem
&
God Be In My Head
by Marylyn Plessner
from Vapour Trails
Three Pines Poetry Sources
Morning in the Burned House
The Essential Leonard Cohen
All the Poems: Stevie Smith
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