Trigger warning for interpersonal violence.
Cora will never know what might have happened if she had chosen to give her son another name, but in Florence Knapp’s affecting novel, The Names, we get to see the results of her visit to the local registrar to give her newborn his name. This novel follows three possible, plausible futures. I was fascinated by each one. Cora’s choice of name is just a catalyst for what follows; what happens is the result of a lot of different people’s choices and their tangle of consequences.
Cora has three different names in mind for her son when she visits the registrar. Her husband, the controlling and violent Gordon, wants the boy named after himself. Cora has been musing on the name Julian. Cora’s daughter, Maia, suggests Bear when asked for her thoughts. This name also appeals to Cora. We revisit the moment when Cora reveals what she wrote down on the form three times, where the family’s story turns into three possibilities.
I feel like I can’t say too much about what happens in The Names because almost anything I reveal could be a spoiler. Rather than give away what happens to Cora and her children, I’ll instead say that I was very interested in the variety of lives these characters live after Cora reveals what she named her son. Maia and Bear/Julian/Gordon become very different people from their other potential selves, being children when these stories diverge from each other. How much time they spend with their father has a lot of impact on how free they feel later in life to pursue their passions and relationships. Cora retains her desire to stay close to her children in all of her futures. She can be uncomfortably self-sacrificing but, given the malice and violence of her husband, I can’t really blame her.
It’s impossible to say if there’s a “best” future because they all contain periods of happiness and tragedy. It’s also impossible not to analyse the subsequent decisions made by Cora, Gordon, and her children. Should Cora stay or should she flee? Is it even possible to successfully run away from a monster like Gordon? Would it be better to live in England or Ireland? Which of the people Maia and Bear/Julian/Gordon date is the best partner for them? Who are the children meant to grow up into? And, of course, what about the choices that led Cora and Gordon to marry in the first place? The Names offers so many opportunities to second-guess everything that, for me, it brilliantly succeeded in showing me the futility of wasting time wondering about what-might-have-been at the cost of making the present absolutely miserable. This book would be an excellent choice for a book group to dive into.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.