This Time Tomorrow

Pomander Walk is both a setting and a symbol in This Time Tomorrow. The setting is indicative of Leonard and Alice’s long-standing love for one another, the space for their companionship, and decades of happy memories. Pomander Walk represents what Alice loves about New York City; while the city’s trends and cultures may change, Pomander Walk remains the same. Their home is a place of comfort, where Leonard and Alice can return to relive their happiest memories. The fact that it is also a portal for time travel, allowing them to reunite over and over again in different contexts, is a testament to the permanence of love, cementing their companionship and love for one another throughout time.

Books play an important symbolic role in the novel. Leonard’s identity as a best-selling author informs how he lives his life and raises his daughter. His integrity as an author is such that he doesn’t publish just for money or acclaim; he truly believes in the joys of his writing and feels a responsibility to his readers. His first novel, about time travel, provides an important blueprint for what Alice experiences. His second novel, inspired by Alice’s experience traveling through time, provides a sign to her future self that she has had a positive impact on his life and work.