The Names

The Names by Florence Knapp
5/6/25; 336 pages
Penguin Publishing

The Names by Florence Knapp is a very highly recommended literary domestic drama following three alternate scenarios with the same characters. Take note that domestic abuse is a major part of the narrative in this debut novel.

Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register her son's birth. Her husband, Gordon, a local doctor and abusive spouse, demands that she names their son Gordon. Cora likes the name Julian. Maia wants to name her brother Bear. Opening in 1987 and covering a span of thirty-five years, what follows are three different versions of their lives based on the choice of the three different names for her son.

The chapters are all divided by name choice, Bear, Julian, and Gordon, into three parallel timelines and follow the very different scenarios based on the three name choices. There is a seven year jump between chapters until the boy is a 35-year-old man. Each of the timelines is a very different version of the boy's life. 

Honestly, if the quality of the writing wasn't so exceptional the rating might have been lower. Opening illustrations based on name choice for each new chapter helps you focus on which boy/name you are reading about, making it easy to keep everything sorted out. All the characters are portrayed as fully realized individuals with strengths and weaknesses, which differ between the name choices and the life lived with that name.

I wasn't entirely sure about how I felt about the three alternate timelines based on a name choice until I had read a good portion of the novel. Initially, I felt two would have been better, but by the time I reached the end I had fully accepted the three different scenarios based on the consequences and implications of a name choice. The domestic violence is a major drawback but does not play a major role is all three timelines.

The Names is a creative, well-written novel that explores how a single decision can influence identity and fate in a family. 4.5 rounded up. Thanks to Penguin Publishing for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.