The Names by Florence Knapp

‘Cora’s daughter talks about seeing a counsellor for years, ‘but she too has been slow to lift the heaviest stones and look at the dark earth beneath, where her fears and worries flee the light like scurrying woodlice’.

The reviews for this book have been glowing: ‘heartwarming’, ‘magnificent’ and ‘heart-wrenching’ to quote a fews. However, this book needs to carry a trigger warning: EXPLICIT DEPICTIONS OF DV, AND COERCIVE CONTROL.

The narrative device is clever: think ‘sliding doors’. Cora is on an errand with her nine year old daughter – to register the birth of her son. Her husband expects her to register his name as Gordon, the name traditionally given to the first son in his family for generations. But Cora pauses: does she really want to give this infant a name that carries so much weight? She would rather name him Julian, a name she loves. Her daughter would love to name him Bear. Which shall she choose?

In alternating chapters, we follow the life of this boy and how the choice of each name appears to guide his journey in different ways. And it’s not only his life, but the lives of those around him, that are deeply affected by this choice.

Knapp writes with a confidence that is surprising for a debut. She sometimes caught me with passages that I felt were perfect. A couple of favourite examples:

‘Cora looks at the baby, whose full-moon face peeps out from his oversized snowsuit. She stops pushing for a moment and leans into his cocoon of talc-scented air. His eyes flutter with excitement on meeting hers, his swaddled limbs cycling frantically in celebration….She blinks I love you, then straightens back up.’

‘Cora’s daughter talks about seeing a counsellor for years, ‘but she too has been slow to lift the heaviest stones and look at the dark earth beneath, where her fears and worries flee the light like scurrying woodlice’.

Her descriptions of the violence inflicted on Cora by her husband Gordon is visceral and I found it deeply disturbing, so be warned.

This is indeed, a beautiful book, moving and unforgettable. But I do add the caveat, it is also extremely disturbing.

Reviewed by Gaby Meares
Murder on a Monday Reading Group