"Cora never liked the name Gordon. The way it starts with a splintering sound that makes her think of cracked boiled sweets, and then ends with a thud like slamming down a sports bag."
Billed as "the story of three names, three versions of a life," this is a heart-tugging read but written in utterly enchanting prose.
In 1987, the UK was battered by a great storm. The book begins that night: as husband, Gordon, reminds his wife to register their son’s name the next day. And so, with the simple act of a baby being named the story starts and the damage from the storm is revealed. There are three separate stories told in the book. It’s the same family but the child gets a different name and life in each of the tales.
After a couple of chapters for each of the three names the plot jumps forward seven years. This gives quite a pleasing switch in your head between the different stories - and often a lurching dread when you remember how we left the action at the end of the last segment.
The Names is a debut novel by Florence Knapp and already I can’t wait to read her next one.
Lisa Williams is a creative soul from Leicester. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from Leicester University. She writes mostly short fiction and really likes the challenge of a word limit – usually one hundred words. She publishes weekly on Substack here.
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