PotsandPlots

Florence Knapp’s The Names was one of the most talked-about novels of 2025 and the most celebrated debut in some time. It features a split narrative, where a newborn baby is given three different first names. We then follow three threads depicting how each life turned out.

If this all sounds a bit “Sliding Doors” to you, then on one level you’re right, but Knapp’s writing elevates her story beyond the premise to create a truly remarkable book. The many plaudits that have come before my own review are spot on. Hopefully, you’ll permit me to explain why I loved it too.

Growing Information

Plant With: Contemporary Fiction and What If? stories.

Grows Into: A moving examination of the effects and aftershocks of domestic abuse.

Rating: Hardy Perennial 🌻🌻🌻 (Check here for rating information.)

Out now in hardback. Paperback release is 26/3/26 (Affiliate link)

The Review

The Names walks a narrow line between harrowing and uplifting. Cora’s husband is abusive, and we have to deal with him and the effects of his horrible actions across 3 different narrative strands. It allows Knapp to examine the effects of domestic abuse from multiple dimensions. Nevertheless, her lightness of touch and the warmth of her characters mean the book never pulls us deep into darkness.

In the short preamble that opens the book, Cora faces a choice. She can register her newborn son in line with her husband’s wishes. She could call him Gordon, a family name, or she can go with something she likes. Something softer like Julian. Something that doesn’t tie him to a line of bullying men. Or perhaps, in a moment of whimsy, she will choose “Bear,” the name her nine-year-old daughter has chosen for her brother.

From there, the narrative heads in three different directions. With a chapter for each name, repeating every seven years. What effect will each name have?

The conceit of the narrative is that each name will have a profound effect. Not only on the child (see also Freakonomics and the tale of Winner and Loser), but also on those around him. From the reaction of the father to how his sister and mother bond with him, the names matter.

Pitch Perfect

The Names would have been very easy to make clichéd and unreal. The obvious picks being that Bear would turn out to be an amazing human and Gordon Jr a spiteful facsimile of his father. Knapp handles each narrative with great subtlety and skill to deliver something real.

We see the good and bad in all 3 boys. We see the deep wounds caused by a manipulative and vindictive father. We see the importance of a family connection and the ripples in the wider lives of friends and family. We see not only the differences the names make, but also the similarities. We see that yes, maybe what you are called alters how people perceive you, but we also see how their perceptions alter you in return. Circles are formed both vicious and virtuous.

The Names is a remarkable book. Its excellent premise is merely a jumping-off point for a deep examination of the novel’s themes. It has a lightness of touch, which keeps the reader elevated, even when the book is at its darkest. Not a word is wasted; there is no overwrought bloat here. It is largely an effortless read. A book that begs to be devoured, particularly as it’s very hard not to read each year’s chapters without wanting to know what happens to all three boys.

Sometimes I read highly acclaimed books, and come away wondering why I didn’t get it like everybody else did. Not so, The Names. It’s a book that will definitely bear (if you’ll forgive the pun) a reread, and I hope to do so soon.