The Long Way Home

Clara and Myrna return to their hotel for drinks. Clara asks Myrna for reassurance that Peter is safe, and Myrna tells her friend that, while her husband is most likely fine, whatever happened to him is not her fault. As she points out, “Peter’s life is his. Stay in the marketplace. Go to Samarra. His fate. Not yours” (77).

The two women next meet with Peter’s sister Marianna, a poet and one of Peter’s more rebellious siblings. Marianna is surprised that Peter is not with Clara. She explains that she had dinner with Peter once the previous winter but had no idea that he was missing or that he and Clara had separated. Marianna explains that during Peter’s stay, he had visited galleries as well as the art college where he studied decades earlier. She suggests that Myrna and Clara have dinner at her home.

Marianna is the mother of a young child named Bean. Because she has a difficult relationship with her parents, Marianna has never disclosed Bean’s gender, using this strategy to punish her family. Bean is now about 12 and appears androgynous. During their visit, Bean shows Myrna and Clara some art tacked to the walls, and both are struck by the somewhat grotesque paintings and the lack of artistic talent Bean displays.

Meanwhile, in Three Pines, Gamache and Reine-Marie have begun researching Scotland, trying to figure out why Peter might have visited. They do not come up with any ideas, and they are also puzzled by his choice of neighborhood during the time he resided in Paris. It occurs to Gamache that a local resident, Vincent Gilbert, stayed in a similar neighborhood during the time he lived in Paris, and Gamache suggests that he and Jean-Guy meet with Vincent the following day.

In Toronto, Clara and Myrna visit many galleries but cannot find anyone who has seen Peter. They stop by the Ontario College of Canadian Arts, where Peter and Clara first met as students 30 years ago. The receptionist mentions that Peter had indeed visited and that he met with one of his former professors, Paul Massey, who is still teaching. Clara also goes to speak with Massey, who greets her warmly and congratulates her on her success. Clara admits to Massey that Peter is missing and tells him the whole story.

Massey reflects on watching Peter and Clara fall in love while they were students. Peter was immensely popular and talented, so it surprised many that he chose to date someone who was not considered particularly talented. Clara recalls feeling protected when Peter stood up for her, even if others mocked her and her work. For example, Clara’s pieces had been included in a mocking exhibit known as the Salon des Refusés, designed to highlight and humiliate untalented students. Clara recalls that “Peter came over, and he stood beside me. He didn’t say anything, he just stood there. For all to see” (94).

Massey does not know why Peter would have gone to Scotland. He suggests that Clara focus on her own life and career and trust that Peter will come back to her if it is meant to be. He offers Clara a job teaching at the college, and she promises to think about it. Clara and Myrna take the train home from Toronto. Clara is growing increasingly afraid that Peter may be dead, and Myrna is secretly convinced of the same thing.

Meanwhile, Gamache and Jean-Guy have gone to visit Vincent, who lives in an isolated cabin in the woods near Three Pines. Vincent is surprised to learn that Peter has vanished since he thought Peter and Clara had a close and loving relationship. Vincent does not think he ever told Peter about the neighborhood where he lived in Paris, but he admits that Peter could have overheard him talking about it.

As Gamache and Jean-Guy journey home from Vincent’s cabin, Gamache continues to dwell on why Peter chose to live in a dull and uninspiring neighborhood in Paris when he was artistically inclined and had the money to live somewhere fashionable.

Home in Three Pines, Clara meets with Gamache, Reine-Marie, Jean-Guy, and Myrna. Jean-Guy has asked permission to stay in Three Pines and focus on helping Gamache find Peter, even though he misses his wife. Gamache tells them that while they were initially fixated on Peter’s surprising choice to travel to Scotland, he is now more interested in the location of Peter’s Paris residence. Gamache suspects that Peter and Vincent may have been drawn to the same thing: a charitable community known as La Porte, established to serve individuals with Down’s syndrome. The organization was founded by a priest named Frere Albert, and Vincent had gone there to volunteer as medical director after the end of his marriage.

Knowing that Peter had been grappling with feelings of purposelessness and meaningless, Gamache wonders if he went there as well. As Clara speculates, “Peter went to Paris not to find a new artistic voice. It was simpler than that. He wanted to find a way to be useful” (106). Gamache has already reached out to the organization to confirm whether Peter had been there.

The group moves to Olivier and Gabri’s bistro for a late dinner, where they are joined by Ruth. Clara tells them about meeting Thomas, Marianna, and Bean in Toronto. Clara talks a bit about her experience with painting, including references to one of her famous pieces: a portrait depicting Ruth as the Virgin Mary. While Ruth is withered and unattractive, her expression in the painting holds a gleam of hope that many viewers find extremely moving.

Clara and Myrna share that they learned Peter had visited his college and his old professor, and Myrna speculates that Peter may have been feeling nostalgic for his youth. She points out that “art college was a magical time for him, so in his distress, he was drawn back to the place where good things happened” (112).

Clara reminisces about her difficult experiences as an art student when she was often made to me feel untalented. Clara speculates again about whether her husband is alive. In a somber mood, the group disbands to go to their various homes. 

The next morning, Clara goes to the studio in her home to look at some of Peter’s paintings. Meanwhile, Gamache sits on his bench and feels conflicted between wanting to help Clara and being hesitant to disrupt the peaceful life he is establishing. Gamache is also concerned because Jean-Guy has a history of addiction, and he worries that his son-in-law might relapse. At approximately the same moment, Gamache, Myrna, and Clara have flashes of insight into the case. Gamache and Myrna rush to Clara’s home. 

After the previous night’s conversation about the artistic process, Clara, Gamache, and Myrna have all realized that the chaotic and exuberant paintings in Bean’s bedroom were most likely painted by Peter rather than the child. Tellingly, the paintings “were a mess, because they were the beginning. Peter’s first chaotic steps towards brilliance” (126).

Clara calls Marianna, who asks Bean, and Bean confirms that Peter painted the pictures, and sent them to her. Clara arranges for the paintings to be sent to Three Pines, since Gamache has not yet seen them, and they might contain clues about Peter’s fate. Gamache confirms that Peter did indeed spend several months volunteering at La Porte in Paris; he was likely inspired by Vincent’s transformative experience working there. However, it seems something else inspired Peter to try a completely new style of painting.

Gamache phones Scotland and speaks to Constable Stuart, a policeman in Dumfries. Stuart confirms that there is no reason an artist would want to come to Dumfries and promises to try to find out where Peter stayed and what he did during his time there. The next day, Peter’s paintings arrive from Toronto; Gamache, Reine-Marie, Myrna, Ruth, Gabri, and Jean-Guy gather at Clara’s home to look at them. Marianna notes that Peter gave Bean some of the paintings (the ones on paper) when he visited in the winter and mailed her the other ones (the ones on canvas) in May. The group inspects the paintings, looking for clues or insights into Peter’s state of mind. Ruth and Gabri quickly grow bored and leave but the others continue to ponder the paintings. Unfortunately, “instead of answering any questions, the paintings had created even more” (138).

Myrna asks Gamache if the investigation is getting to be too much for him. Gamache says that he is only investigating a missing person, not the brutal murders he formerly investigated. He admits that he would prefer to relax and enjoy his retirement but that he also feels a responsibility to help Clara. As Gamache explains, “What’s the use of healing, if the life that’s saved is callow and selfish and ruled by fear? There’s a difference between being in sanctuary and being in hiding” (146).

Clara reflects on why Peter might have chosen Bean as the recipient of the paintings. Myrna speculates that Peter feels a connection to Bean’s non-conformity and outsider status within the Morrow family and wanted to send Bean a message of approval and support. Clara disagrees, suggesting that Peter wanted to keep the paintings safe and trusted Bean (whose gender has been hidden) to keep his secret.

Ruth and Gamache meet at Ruth’s home, and he asks her about the creative process. Gamache thinks that since Ruth is a celebrated poet, she may have useful insight. After the conversation, Gamache continues to think about Peter’s paintings. They seem to signal some sort of change or transformation as well as a new willingness to take risks: “He wasn’t very good, yet. But if Peter kept trying, he’d get to where he wanted to be. This new Peter was willing to try. Willing to fail” (158).

Meanwhile, Clara talks with Olivier at the bistro. Since she knows that Peter and Olivier were good friends, she asks him directly if he knows where Peter went. Olivier insists that he has no idea and that he has not heard from Peter. Clara also asks Olivier about his experience being away from Three Pines and then returning. Olivier speaks about how much he missed his home but admits he felt unsure when he came back. From the outside, it seemed that the community had moved on without him, and he worried that it would reject him. Clara reassures Olivier that he was profoundly missed during his absence.

Gabri joins them and, as the three friends discuss the paintings (which Olivier has not yet seen), Clara has a sudden realization: While the paintings are grotesque and unrefined, they evoke a sense of happiness and playfulness that she has never seen in Peter’s art. She believes the paintings signal that Peter was happy during his absence from Three Pines and their home. Then, Gamache has a sudden flash of insight. He photographs Peter’s paintings and emails the photos to his contact in Scotland.

Due to the time difference from Scotland, Gamache gets up anxiously throughout the night to check his email. At one point, he notices that Jean-Guy is also awake. Gamache has shared his theory that Peter’s paintings might be landscapes from his time in Scotland, but he still does not know why Peter chose that location if he wanted to experiment with landscapes. Reine-Marie also wakes up and finds Jean-Guy and Gamache puzzling over a short email from Constable Stuart in Scotland. Stuart has simply responded with “It’s cosmic” (163).

The narrative flashes back to Stuart seeing the email arrive from Gamache. He is off duty and only opens it from idle curiosity. He is not interested in most of the paintings but one catches his eye, and he shows it to another local, Doug, who suggests that the location is close by. Early the next morning, Stuart drives to the locale and begins walking. He pauses to send an email to Gamache but then slips, falls, and slides down a hillside. He lands in a mysterious and haunting place that has “its own reality, its own space and time” and begins snapping photos (166). It is the place Peter depicted in his painting.

Gamache receives the photos from Stuart following up on the strange email. At first, Gamache, Jean-Guy, and Reine-Marie are not sure what the photos depict, but they recognize similarities to Peter’s paintings. After some research, they realize that the photos show the Garden of Cosmic Speculation. The garden was created to play with concepts from art and physics and is world-renowned as a special and mystical place. The garden is private and open to the public only on one Sunday in May. However, Peter had been back in Canada by May, so he must have visited illicitly. This fact is notable because Peter typically “did as he was told and taught. It was not in his nature to trespass” (174).

They hurry to Clara’s house to tell her what they have found. Clara speculates that this location caused some sort of transformation in Peter. This might explain why he chose to send the paintings to Bean but not why he then traveled to Toronto. Now that they know that some of the paintings depict landscapes, they become curious about the others and try turning them upside down, wondering if Bean might have hung them the wrong way. Once they do so, they immediately recognize what the paintings depict.

Meanwhile, in Scotland, Stuart has been questioning locals about the strange garden he found after falling down the hill. A local man named Alphonse explains that he sometimes sneaks into the garden to hunt rabbits. One night, he saw a group of rabbits and claims he saw them transform from rabbits into stone.