The Names: A Read with Jenna Pick
A Novel
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4.0 • 30 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY | AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!
“Beautiful, heart-wrenching, utterly original.” —Miranda Cowley Heller, bestselling author of The Paper Palace
The story of one family told three different ways, leading to three different fates—a dazzling debut that asks: Can a name shape the course of a life?
In the wake of an enormous, history-making storm, Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register her son’s birth. Her husband, Gordon, a local doctor, respected in the community but a terrifying and controlling presence at home, intends for her to name the child after him. But when the registrar asks which name she wants to pick, Cora hesitates . . .
What follows are three alternate and alternating versions of both Cora’s and her young son’s life, shaped by her brave last-minute choice of name. Spanning thirty-five years, the novel draws us in from the first page, as we follow three unforgettable journeys of one young man, but also his mother, grandmother, and sister. In richly layered prose, The Names explores the painful ripple effects of domestic abuse, the messy ties of family, and the possibilities of autonomy and healing.
With exceptional sensitivity and depth, Knapp draws us into the story of one family, told through a prism of what-ifs, and shows us what we each can do with the “one precious life” we are given. The Names’ brilliantly imaginative structure, its propulsive storytelling, and the emotional, gut-wrenching power of the book itself are certain to make it a modern classic.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Florence Knapp offers three very different glimpses of how a family struggles with abuse in this shocking and poignant story. Cora is married to Gordon, a doctor who’s well-respected in the community but cold, manipulative, and violent behind closed doors. Gordon insists their newborn son should be named after him, but Cora wants to pick a name that doesn’t carry the baggage of his destructiveness and brutality. As she imagines what the boy’s life might look like if he were named Bear, Julian, or Gordon, we get to witness three dramatically different, Sliding Doors–esque scenarios that envision him as an archaeologist, an artisan jewelry maker, and an alcoholic tech bro. Not only are all three narratives enthralling, each one also speaks distinctively to the pain and resilience of this dysfunctional family. Knapp also fills the stories with a rich cast of characters who grabbed us with their own dramatic arcs. The Names is a powerfully moving work about caring and survival.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Knapp's intriguing and nuanced debut comprises three alternate story lines for a British family. After giving birth to a baby boy in 1987, Cora goes to the registry office to record his name. Her abusive husband, Gordon, wants the baby named after himself, her nine-year-old daughter thinks Bear would be a good name, and Cora prefers Julian. In each of the three parallel timelines, Cora assigns the baby a different one of the three names, and the lives of the family members unfold radically differently. In the Bear timeline, Cora and the children are mostly free of Gordon, while in the Julian version, the children are raised by Cora's mother in Ireland. When the boy is named Gordon, the three live under the father's tyrannical rule. Minor characters in one timeline sometimes play major roles in another, as Knapp reveals which attributes are intrinsic to her characters' personalities and which are more subject to outside influences. All three story lines twist and turn in surprising but logical directions, as Knapp provides insights into the ways familial pressure can prevent personal growth. Readers won't be able to stop talking about this intelligent exploration of a single choice's long tail of repercussions.
