Literary Themes in 'The Cards We're Dealt'
- Rhian MacGillivray
- Apr 24
- 4 min read
Today’s post gives a further glimpse into what you can look forward to between the pages of The Cards We’re Dealt.
This time I’m talking about literary themes, and the themes I’ve explored in this novel are what make it book club fiction, in my opinion. They’re topics that open up plenty of discussion and make the book hit harder than regular commercial fiction. They helped me put my characters through the ringer!
The literary themes I explored
When I was planning this novel, some of my themes were clear from the outset: they were areas I wanted to discuss through writing and explore how they affected my characters. Others emerged as the story – and my characters – developed.
Family
The most obvious one – evident simply from reading the blurb, before you read a single page of the novel – is family. In particular, I wanted to explore the relationship between siblings and their different reactions to childhood trauma: how it affects three people – Mark, Josh and Sadie – who share the same roots and blood, all the way through to how it impacts their decisions, their characters, their outlook on life, their very being.
It ties into the title I chose: the idea that the lives we’re given come down to an element of chance, but also that we have to make the most of the situations we find ourselves in and use every skill, wit and trick available to us to navigate our way through life.
I also wanted to look at what each character was willing to do for family: how far each would go for the other, what they were willing to sacrifice, what lines they were or were not willing to cross to please the other, and how familial relationships change and endure from childhood into adulthood.
This theme of family – combined with the sub-theme of childhood trauma – leads into another theme discussed in The Cards We’re Dealt.
Mental health
Everyone deals with things differently, and I wanted to look at the different emotional reactions three closely related people have to a single event, and its impact on their mental well-being.
The desire to ignore things, the need to face things head on, suppressing emotions, trying to forget, trying to move on, and being unable or not wanting t forget. How people seek understanding and solace in different things. How some need to find an outlet for the pain. And how traumatic events ultimately shape a person forever in one way or another.
Music
One theme you’ll get a first peek at on the front cover is music. Like I said in my post on writing The Cards We’re Dealt, this book is my love letter to music in a way.
With this literary theme, I wanted to highlight how people use music to express themselves, as an extension of themselves, and as an escape, a release, a celebration.
There’s a song for every circumstance. Music can make you feel happy, sad, excited, nostalgic and more, and I wanted to represent that, but I also tied it in with the next literary theme.
Ambition
This is one theme that I didn’t exactly set out to explore, but which came about organically as the plot developed.
In The Cards We’re Dealt, raw ambition runs through Mark’s storyline. It influences everything he does, as well as his relationships with those around him. And it had me asking, what would different people do to achieve their dreams? What would they give up? What would they risk?
These are questions I applied to Mark when mapping out his character arc progression and his actions in scenes.
Love
I also wanted to explore love as a literary theme: both platonic and romantic.
This links back to the theme of family, but it develops in the friendships and relationships Mark, Josh and Sadie make in the novel.
It’s also connected to the childhood trauma theme, and how the siblings’ past affects their ability to form relationships; the fears and misbeliefs that become deep-rooted in their psyches and affect their capacities to love one another and other people.
Coming of age
Lastly, I ended up delving into a coming-of-age literary theme through the natural development of my characters from their teenage years into adulthood.
This one was particularly satisfying to work on as I could draw out each character’s progression, from the loss of their father to finding their place in the world and becoming the adults they were meant to be.
‘The Cards We’re Dealt’: now on Goodreads and available for pre-order on Amazon and Kobo
If you enjoyed this post and you’re looking forward to reading The Cards We’re Dealt, I have good news! You can now add The Cards We’re Dealt to your “To Read” shelf on Goodreads by following this link.
Not only that, but if you read your books in ebook format, you can now pre-order The Cards We’re Dealt on Amazon here or Kobo here.
Other formats and marketplaces will be available at a later date, or upon release on 26 May 2025 at the latest.
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