Welcome to my eight-part blog series about the main themes in A Long Lost Time. You may have read my previous blog series on the themes in the other books in the series so now it’s time for the final one. You can find the links to the previous blogs at the bottom of this blog post. The third theme is hidden truths: there will be some crossover with previous theme blogs.
Warning: This blog contains spoilers.
Hidden truths – A Long Lost Time certainly has a lot of those! With twist after twist towards the end, there’s plenty to be revealed in this book. The mysteries that get uncovered towards the end are something I really like about this book, and I think it ties in nicely to Atlantic Split. However, instead of Luke trying to uncover the mysteries it’s the fantastic duo of Vi and Chrissie taking centre scene. As they learn more about the secrets that Marco has been covering up and the pieces begin falling together, things start to finally make sense. Everyone’s surprised by the revelations, but no one is more surprised than Luke whose been caught up in the middle of it all.
I feel like this theme is also really relevant to the world we live in today, especially when it comes to the black lives matter protests that occurred earlier this year. I certainly learnt a lot I didn’t know before, and it made me realise how much of history is hidden – or rather, concealed from us.
It’s something Luke picks up upon in his speech at the end of the book. Everything his life was based on in the past two years was constructed under these hidden truths that he knew nothing about. He could’ve gone to jail and not been any the wiser, and it draws a great parallel to what’s happening in the world with the Atlantic Split. The nations decided that the split was the better way to progress than trying to work through their issues. They decided to just remove each others’ influences from their countries rather than find a way through, erasing and changing history as if it had never happened. If Luke hadn’t managed to find a way to keep the interest in it alive, people would’ve just gone on believing that the split was a part of life. He knew he had to change that.
And that’s what we need to do in the world today. This theme is so important because it teaches us not to take things at face value, and in a world where there are so many people in power (although not for much longer in America!) are corrupt and able to influence mass people of their ‘truths’ when in fact, how do we know they’re not lying to us? We have to take it upon ourselves to learn more about reality, educate ourselves and try to understand things from each other’s points of view. It’s the only way we’ll get to the real truths and be able to form our own valid opinions. Uncovering hidden truths is vital – not only to find out what we’re missing out on, but for those people who have been affected negatively because they exist. We owe it to each other, we owe it to the world.
I end this blog with a quote from A Long Lost Time about hidden truths. It’s from that speech and honestly, when I read it back, it felt exactly like something that could’ve easily been said this year at one of the BLM marches. It still fits, it’s still relevant and most importantly, it’s a lesson on how we should live.
“Wouldn’t it hurt you if there was something people were keeping from you? Wouldn’t it hurt if you found out that the life you were living was based on a massive lie? That something was controlling what you believe and affecting your life without you even realising it? Well, there is. There’s something affecting everyone here in the UK and in the USA. There’s something that’s making each of us believe the other nation is bad, that we should avoid and be completely cut off from them. The Atlantic Split.” Luke Bright – A Long Lost Time
Thank you for reading this blog, and next Thursday I’ll be back to discuss the next theme in the series: forgiveness. See you then!
Atlantic Split Theme Blog Series Links:
At Liberty To Live Theme Blog Series Links:
- New Beginnings
- Inner Strength
- Following Your Passion
- Rushing in too quickly
- Feminism
- Self Discovery
- Making a Difference
- Previous Themes
An Undercover Dream Theme Blog Series Links:
A Long Lost Time Theme Blog Series Links:
All four books in The Luke Bright Series is available to purchase NOW! Please follow me on my blog and social media links below, and use the links on my website to purchase a copy of each 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
Neil A. King 