The Promise of Forgiveness
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10. Why do you think Hank and Mia hit it off right away? How much did it have to do with their shared love of animals?
11. What are some of the traits that Hank and Ruby share?
12. What is the significance of gambling in the book? When did it help Hank and when did it hurt him?
13. Ruby has built Hank up to be a huge obstacle to overcome or to fight against, but he turns out to be a frail man with a pacemaker in his chest. Do you believe it would have been more difficult or easier for Ruby to forgive Hank if he’d been healthy? Why do you think Ruby is so reluctant to forgive Hank?
14. Do you keep a diary? If so, are there any secrets that will turn your loved ones’ lives upside down?
Why Unforgiven—Why Ruby?
I’m a big fan of small towns. Small towns provide built-in conflict for stories. People know one another—maybe a little too well. In small towns, secrets are guarded closely, because once they’re revealed, the repercussions travel through the community like shock waves after an earthquake. On the one hand, it’s comforting to know you have help nearby, but on the other, it’s disconcerting when you discover your neighbors know more about you than you realized.
When I brainstormed this novel, I needed a location that would challenge the book’s theme of forgiveness. I then filled the town with men, because Ruby has a deep mistrust of men, and I didn’t want her to feel too comfortable, because only when we’re uncomfortable do we accept the need to change.
Unforgiven is a safe haven for men. A place where roughnecks and cowboys check their morals and values at the door. A place where they can say what they want without fear of backlash or condemnation. The men have secrets and regrets. Their lives have been built on mistakes and bad decisions—but no one holds them accountable in Unforgiven. At home these men toe the line for their wives and families, their actions and words guided by a moral conscience. For some men, the women in their lives are the only link between them and civilized society.
Ruby is nothing like the wives and girlfriends who are at home waiting for their roughnecks and cowboys. Ruby is as hard as the gemstone she’s named after. She, too, has secrets and has made her share of mistakes and bad judgment calls. The town is a reflection of Ruby—unforgiving and suspicious.
Why did I pick Ruby to be the story’s protagonist? Because Ruby is a fighter. There’s something very real and honest about middle-class America. The middle class doesn’t make enough money to buy their way out of the messes they create in their lives like the wealthy, who have the means and connections to make things “go away.” Few people in the middle class experience having opportunities handed to them like the wealthy, yet they’re often held to higher standards and made accountable for the consequences of their choices and actions while the wealthy get away with their mistakes and indiscretions.
The middle class is the heartbeat of America. They love deeply and hate deeply. And because these attributes can lead them down the wrong path, the need for forgiveness plays a greater role in their lives than perhaps in the lives of the more fortunate in society.
Forgiveness is not about the offender—the person who committed the offense. It’s not about deciding if the offender deserves forgiveness. It’s only about what’s inside the heart of the person who’s been hurt. If you’ve carried a grudge against someone for a long time and you finally let it go, you’ll feel a weight lift off your shoulders. And only when you forgive can you begin to heal, because you no longer carry the burden of being the injured one.
Ruby arrives in Unforgiven determined to hold a grudge against her biological father, but what she doesn’t understand until later is that she needed to give forgiveness more than she needed to receive it.
As I’ve grown older, I’ve learned a few valuable lessons in life. You can’t change people. And sometimes those who profess to love you will hurt you. But the most important thing I’ve learned is that offering forgiveness frees the soul and gives us a path forward in life that is richer and sweeter than the one we walked before.
About the Author
Marin Thomas is an award-nominated author of more than twenty-five novels, including the Cash Brothers series. She grew up in Janesville, Wisconsin, and attended college at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where she played basketball for the Lady Wildcats and earned a BA in Radio and Television. Following graduation, she married her college sweetheart in a five-minute ceremony at the historic Little Chapel of the West in Las Vegas, Nevada. While her two children were young, Marin coached youth basketball. Now that her son has graduated from college and her daughter is in graduate school, Marin writes full-time. She and her husband currently live in Houston, Texas. The Promise of Forgiveness is her first women’s fiction novel.
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