AFG: What do you think the themes in the book are?

I believe one of the themes is community versus isolation depicted by the Three Pines villagers and the inhabitants of the Hadley House. Everything CC did fed her wallet or her ego. According to CC, Three Pines would be perfect when she was done with it. The villagers genuinely care about each other and work together to support each other. They are the good while CC is evil. Gabri makes an allusion to Frankenstein: “the monster is dead and the villagers are celebrating.”

Another theme is secrets and lies. Both Nichol and Lemieux have secrets. Each is communicating with someone out to destroy Gamache. The Three Graces lie to Gamache and keep secret who actually killed CC in order to protect Crie. We never really know why CC bought the Hadley House and what her plans were for making Three Pines the way she wanted it. Ari Nikolev has lied to his daughter her entire life about a fictitious Uncle Saul which put an unbearable burden on his daughter to belong and to succeed in law enforcement. Saul Petrov sought forgiveness and redemption by destroying the roll of film he was going to use for blackmail if CC became rich and possibly blackmailing Richard. Saul sent an apology letter to Richard for his affair with CC and hoped that they would be friends or, at least, friendly.

Great points Nancy.I agree with both of these themes and really like the examples you list. I think another theme might be the divide between cruelty and compassion. CC has little to know respect for people other than what they can do for her and is cruel to the point of devouring her young. A passage where Gamache wonders about CC’s awful baby seal skin boots describes this: “Who would wear such boots? The Inuit, maybe. In the Arctic. But even they wouldn’t kill baby seals. The Inuit were respectful and sensible hunters who’d never dream of killing the young.”
Being taken away from her mother at a young age must have been traumatic for CC, yes, but doesn’t justify her treatment of Crie. The Three Graces are juxtaposed with her – as they are willing to sacrifice themselves to save Crie.

So too, Nichol can’t stop herself from thinking the worst of people and hold Gamache in contempt. Even after he rescues her from the fire she jumps to the cruelest judgement – he would have left her to die. This contrasts with Gamache’s compassion for her despite her faults. Other characters are seen as compassionate or cruel in varying degrees – Elle is kind to Clara, our residents Gabri, Clara. Others are cruel at times – Beauvoir (saying Yvette isn’t worth saving), Saul thinking he’d blackmail CC and Richard (although he redeems himself). So there’s a dichotomy within many of the characters between being kind and being cruel.