When Canadian mystery writer Louise Penny canceled her fall U.S. book tour amid tariff threats to her country, American fans questioned if they’d ever again spy the author praised by Publishers Weekly for her criminal mind yet “clear-eyed optimism about human nature.”
On Saturday, Vermont’s border-straddling Haskell Free Library and Opera House will offer an answer when it hosts an appearance with a surprising backstory — and back-door story.
Three years ago, Penny was plotting the latest in her series of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novels, set in the fictional village of Three Pines just north of the Green Mountains in her home province of Quebec.
After going big to sell more than 18 million copies globally, the author pushed her limits further by proposing a cabal of characters who scheme to mine Canada’s resources by making it the 51st state.
“I remember thinking ‘Have I jumped the shark? Have I gone too far? Will anyone believe this?’” Penny told CTV News.
Then came the return of President Donald Trump.
“Turns out maybe I didn’t go far enough,” she said.
Penny’s 20th Gamache book, “The Black Wolf,” hit stores Tuesday and immediately skyrocketed up online sales lists. But disheartened by a U.S. trade war, the author has dropped a 20-year tradition of touring her country’s southern neighbor.
“What is happening is not just a potential economic catastrophe for Canada and so many other nations, it is a moral wound,” she wrote on social media. “With that in mind, I am so sorry to say that until things change, I cannot do in-person events in the United States.”
Enter the Haskell Free Library and Opera House on the border of Derby Line, Vt., and Stanstead, Quebec, just 40 minutes from Penny’s home.
“The Haskell was built by both countries as a symbol of our strong bonds of friendship,” the author wrote of the 1904 landmark. “It is the physical reflection of what we believe. That what happens politically is one thing, and transitory. What happens in our hearts is indestructible.”
The Haskell plays a pivotal role in Penny’s new novel, reviewers hint without spoiling. With black floor tape marking the border, the building has a front entrance in Derby Line and a back-door emergency exit in Quebec — the latter which Penny is aiming to upgrade by contributing 50,000 Canadian dollars (about $36,000 in U.S. currency).
To raise more money, Penny will present two sold-out readings at the 400-seat opera house on Saturday and Sunday, with the audience divided equally between Canadian and U.S. residents.
“If you do come to one of the Haskell events it would not hurt to bring your passport,” Penny has warned people who snatched up all the tickets in days. “A few months ago saying that would have sounded ludicrous, but we are living in times when the ridiculous is made manifest.”
For supporters without seats, the event’s two sponsoring stores, Vermont’s Phoenix Books and Quebec’s Brome Lake Books, are selling online links to a livestream of Saturday’s program.
Phoenix employees are preparing 400 books for the Haskell readings and another 300 and counting for people set to log onto the broadcast.
“We still have spots available,” Burlington store manager Tod Gross said of the online program, “but I would encourage people to sign up quick.”
The readings come after the Haskell’s recent appearance on CBS News’ “Sunday Morning” and just weeks before the opera house is set to host CBC radio’s “The Current.”
As for Penny, she’ll cap her book tour Nov. 28 in Toronto.
“Please understand this decision is not meant to punish Americans — this is about standing shoulder-to-shoulder with my fellow Canadians,” the author wrote on social media. “I am hoping Americans will come to the Canadian events. You will be welcomed with open arms. As friends. As fellow villagers of Three Pines. Where goodness, and decency, exist.”
This story was republished with permission from VtDigger, which offers its reporting at no cost to local news organizations through its Community News Sharing Project. To learn more, visit vtdigger.org/community-news-sharing-project.