In The Cruelest Month, Penny explores the human desire to belong through the characters of Gamache and Jeanne Chauvet. She uses the village of Three Pines to emphasize this theme, creating the impression of a magical village that appears to those who need it: “Once found, Three Pines was never forgotten. But it was only ever found by people lost” (2). From the first chapter, Penny establishes Three Pines as a place where people instantly feel at home.

From the first time Gamache visits Three Pines, he recognizes that it is extraordinary: “Gamache had been to Three Pines on previous investigations and each time he’d had the feeling he belonged. It was a powerful feeling. After all, what else did people really want except to belong?” (60). Gamache struggles with his estrangement from the Sûreté; he has always belonged there and been looked at as a hero. Yet now, with his own actions, he places himself outside the ranks. At his lowest point, he considers leaving the Sûreté and Montreal and moving with Reine-Marie to Three Pines. When, at the end of the novel, he and Reine-Marie go to Three Pines to help renovate the Hadley house, they instantly belong with the villagers.