Welcome to my eight-part blog series about the main themes in Atlantic Split. Each Thursday, I will be discussing one of the themes in my blog, and this week I’m discussing the theme of friendship. Warning: This blog contains some mild spoilers.

Theme 1: Prejudice

Theme 2: Growing up

Theme 3: Optimism

Theme 4: Courage

The characters of Atlantic Split are the core of the book, and that’s why the theme of friendship is very central to The Luke Bright Series. Luke Bright has never had true friends – he was bullied and a loner at school and he’s struggled with the fact that he’s never been able to trust other people, especially since he was left broken hearted by his ex-girlfriend. So, when Luke meets James and Steve (despite being told they are criminals) he easily lets himself become attached to them both. James’ kind and caring nature and Steve’s humour and witty banter appeal to him, and it’s not long before Luke finds himself becoming friends with them. Though Luke knows that its wrong to associate with prisoners, friendship is something he’s craved throughout his life and it’s been put right in front of him with two people he can learn from and who care about him. He was never going to be able to resist.

The friends we have can sometimes be more important than family – especially for young people. You don’t get to choose your family and the people around us are the ones that influence us and the trio become a core team who will do anything for each other. Luke gets in trouble plenty a time for defending James and Steve and they’re the catalyst for why he feels so strongly about bridging the Atlantic Split. Without them, none of this would have happened. After all, they’ve treated him better than most British people have.

Throughout The Luke Bright Series, Luke relies a lot on his friends and he too gets to become a friend to other people – something he’s never been able to do before. It’s something he’s always missed out on and it’s something he’s very new too. That means sometimes he makes mistakes and (though it’s not quite the same theme) the same thing happens with his love life. Luke’s impulsive and wants to make the best of every situation and see the best in every person he meets, but it isn’t always the best way to form relationships. However, even though Luke and Steve do get off to a rough start, Luke knows he can rely on James and Steve and their friendship, despite their different ages, is something I hope that young readers can aspire to. True friends that will do anything for each other and be there when the going gets tough.

I end this blog with a quote from Atlantic Split about friendship. Luke realises that despite all the losses he’s experienced throughout his fight, he’s gained something very special.

“I had made this amazing friendship with these two Americans. Me – a British guy – friends with Americans, although just having friends was more than enough for me. What if there were all these unknown friendships between people across the Atlantic that never, ever got to form because of the Atlantic Split?” Luke Bright – Atlantic Split

Thank you for reading this blog, and next Thursday I’ll be back with the sixth theme of Atlantic Split: Family.

Atlantic Split is the first book in The Luke Bright Series and is available to purchase NOW! Please follow me on my blog and my social media links below and use the links on my website to purchase a copy if you have not done so. Don’t forget to leave a review! Thank you once again for taking the time to read this blog post.

N.A.K.