Can everything from the past be forgiven?

Synopsis

A heartwarming and heartbreaking tale of love, loss and the chance to put things right

When Georgie turns up at a quiz night in a London café, Peter storms past her without a second glance. Fifty years ago, on their penultimate night at university, she had betrayed him and he has never forgiven her for wrecking their seemingly perfect relationship. 

Their life journeys since that fateful night could not be more different. Georgie has had brief success and notoriety with Mothercluckers, an all-female punk band, followed by a life ruined by alcohol and drug addiction. By contrast, Peter’s career as a university library administrator has been fulfilling, stable and successful. 

Rachel, the café owner’s daughter, knows all about the Mothercluckers. Obsessed by their wild reputation, she can’t believe her luck when Georgie turns up and she cajoles her father into allowing Georgie to stay in their family home for the night. When Georgie tells her about Peter, Rachel schemes a reconciliation. 

Meanwhile Mia, Peter’s new colleague at the university library, is a breath of fresh air who reminds him of the young Georgie. Mia is soon pushing for him to reunite with Georgie.

Can the two young women succeed in getting Georgie and Peter to face up to the incident that tore them apart? The clock is ticking.

My review

Fifty years ago, Georgie broke as a young woman, her boyfriend Peter’s heart. Despite all her efforts, he never forgave her and then life took them both in complete different directions. Where Georgie’s life as being part of a punk band, was filled with music but also bad decisions, Peter built a solid, academic life. In the present, Georgie walks into a London café quiz and there is Peter. But he is anything but happy to see her, shocking a bit Georgie. However, with having both young women being suddenly their biggest supporters, and wanting nothing more for Georgie and Peter find each other again in one way or another, their paths will cross again. But with everything that has happened between them and in their own personal lives, is there room for not only forgiveness but also for each other?

When we were younger, haven’t we all made choices and mistakes that at a later stage in our lives, we regret? It can be something innocent, but as we can see in Georgie’s life, one mistake can be the start of a downward spiral, adding mistake after mistake after mistake.

But when we see Georgie in the here and now, we also see that your life can be turned around, that you can change for the better.

It saddened me reading about Georgie’s past, how one bad decision let to another, to another and even to addiction and fatalities to people close to her. She managed to push the people that loved her, away by her behaviour, her reactions and even unwillingness to see her mistakes in a way.

I also have to admit, I wasn’t understanding why now Georgie appears in London, wanting to apologize to Peter after all those years. If I were in her shoes, perhaps I would just forget about what happened fifty years ago, and just move on with my life, as it finally is getting back on track, with just a few hiccups left to get over.

But I found it also a testimony of her changed character, as she is determined to come clean about what happened not only those years ago, but also recently. She shows a resilience, a vulnerability but also an understanding. She understands Peter’s reluctance, his behaviour of ignoring her. And that shows just how much Georgie has grown over the years.

Now, it needs to be said, that while Peter for sure seems like a real proper man, Georgie’s betrayal scarred him much deeper than it would seem. He has also made mistakes in his life, perhaps not as grave as Georgie’s, but mistakes that also hurt the people around him and the people that he loved/loves.

I have to admit, I was a bit wary of Mia and Rachel at the start. In Rachel I initially saw someone wanting to befriend and help Georgie more because Rachel is a fan of Georgie, and not out of the kindness of her heart.

And in Mia’s case, I saw perhaps a young woman not knowing what or who she wants in her life. I saw her jumping from one decision to another, not thinking properly about the consequences.

But I was happy to read how in fact, these two young people, seeing the world and life so differently from Georgie and Peter, are an actual help to these perhaps lost souls. Thanks to their help, their persistence, we see how Georgie and Peter are accepting each other again.

This book didn’t start perhaps with me being drawn into it completely. But the more the story evolved, the more the main characters but also the side characters grew, the more I had the need to discover how it would all turn out.

Because, like I said before, just like Georgie, we have all made mistakes, can all mistakes, errors and wrong decisions be forgiven? And can it be too late for it? Or can it be that it is never too late to make right again what was done wrong? This process is the strength of this book, showing us that people can change, can attempt to redeem themselves. And who knows where forgiveness, acceptance and understanding can bring us, no matter how old or young we are…