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 fourth theme is forgiveness: there will be some crossover with previous theme blogs.
Warning: This blog contains spoilers.
Forgiveness is a great theme for the ending of a book series, and in A Long Lost Time, there are plenty of scores to settle, which means plenty of opportunities to forgive people for what they’ve done. It’s a form of unexpected closure, and Luke especially has been wrongly done by plenty of people in his life so this theme is particularly important to him.
Over time, he meets a lot of people he never expected to see again, namely two from his school who ended up making his life a misery – Chrissie Roberts and Brad Baxter. Brad, who bullied him for years, got his comeuppance in Atlantic Split and his story is revisited in A Long Lost Time. Despite the years that have passed, Luke’s still affected by the torment Brad put him through, but their shared situation leads to Brad taking a stand and Luke realising that he can’t hold this grudge for any longer.
It’s a similar situation with Chrissie, who too has tried to take Luke back to his past, and in an extremely heated discussion, Luke finally gets to say what he always wanted to say. However, Vi’s the one who convinces him to forgive Chrissie for an important reason. Everyone’s human, everyone has their own motivations and reasons for what they do. Looking back at what drives people to make the decisions they do really shows their dynamism and why they’re worth forgiving. Although it’s hard for Luke to get his head around, forgiveness is genuinely better than the alternative.
Finally, the big one. Marco. How can you forgive someone for doing something as horrific as what Marco did to Luke, and for what he did to Vi? One word – closure. Luke needs closure on that chapter of his life and despite how difficult it must have been for him to stand in front of Marco and hear his lies and then finally uncover the truth, Luke needs this ordeal to end. Part of it is because what they uncovered about Marco feels very similar to his own situation, but the other part is so he could understand more about why. However, it’s unlikely Marco was ever going to tell him those reasons, or at least be truthful about those reasons. Either way, closure is closure and despite not wanting to forgive Marco, their final confrontation does wrap something up for him.
So why is forgiveness such an important theme? Well, because it really relates to how we should be as people. Of course, some things are unforgivable, but for the little things, the things that don’t really matter, we should learn to forgive each other. After all, these negative emotions are what make us vulnerable to becoming prejudiced. They make us hold grudges that we don’t need to be carrying. Just like what happened with the Atlantic Split. This forty-four year old grudge deserves being broken down. People on both sides need to embrace and forgive each other, and that’s exactly what Luke’s trying to achieve. He knows why forgiveness matters first hand, and now he’s trying to get the world to forgive each other too. We can learn a lot of lessons from him because once we learn to forgive, it’s only then we can let go and start to move on.
I end this blog with a quote from A Long Lost Time about forgiveness from the moment where Luke finally forgives Brad Baxter. It’s such a key, moving scene considering what Luke and Brad have been through, and it really feels like good progress.
“It was going to be tough, but if he was willing to change then so was I. Just like with the Atlantic Split, holding personal grudges doesn’t help anyone, so it was time to forgive him.” 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 – it’s an interesting one: grief. 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 