On the day Cora is going to register her newborn son’s name she ponders whether naming him Gordon, as her husband wants, will mean he is predisposed to violence like his father or whether giving him another name will change his destiny. Her young daughter Maia suggests the name Bear while Cora thinks Julian is a strong name.
At the registrar’s desk Cora must decide on the name for her son and that is where The Names divides into three alternate narratives. Three names and each with very different consequences, though Cora’s son remains at the emotional centre of each story alongside the violence and cruelty Cora endures at the hands of her husband.
Each section of The Names is set seven years apart over a 35 year period. While the horrifying effects of domestic abuse and the generational trauma it inflicts is at the heart of Bear, Julian and Gordon’s stories the subject matter is handled with compassion and sensitivity.
Does a name determine your future and shape who you become? Can a propensity for violence be transferred from father to son if they share the same name?
There were times that I felt a tightness in my chest reading some of these chapters and I found myself racing through pages to see if Cora was safe but that was balanced by the characters who tried to help Cora, they provided a much needed counterweight to the violence Cora experienced.
I found each of the characters engaging and regardless of their name they all had a mixture of happiness, love and loss in their lives. The Names shows how one decision can cause a ripple effect for everyone in the family and affect their lives for years to come. Is it the name Cora chooses for her son that will determine his future or is it whether Cora can leave her abuser?
Powerfully moving and full of hope The Names will stay with you long after you’ve closed the book.
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Publisher: HACHETTE INTL
Format: Paperback, 343 pages
ISBN: 9781399624039
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Here’s the synopsis
Tomorrow – if morning comes, if the storm stops raging – Cora will register the name of her son. Or perhaps, and this is her real concern, she’ll formalise who he will become.
It is 1987, and in the aftermath of a great storm, Cora sets out with her nine-year-old daughter to register the birth of her son. Her husband intends for her to follow a long-standing family tradition and call the baby after him. But when faced with the decision, Cora hesitates. Going against his wishes is a risk that will have consequences, but is it right for her child to inherit his name from generations of domineering men? The choice she makes in this moment will shape the course of their lives.
Seven years later, her son is Bear, a name chosen by his sister, and one that will prove as cataclysmic as the storm from which it emerged. Or he is Julian, the name his mother set her heart on, believing it will enable him to become his own person. Or he is Gordon, named after his father and raised in his cruel image – but is there still a chance to break the mould?
Powerfully moving and full of hope, this is the story of three names, three versions of a life, and the infinite possibilities that a single decision can spark. It is the story of one family, and love’s endless capacity to endure, no matter what fate has in store.
What Caz Read 