@penguinbooks
Penguin BooksWe asked Florence Knapp to explain the premise of her "stunning, hopeful, bitterly beautiful novel" (@chriswhitakerauthor) THE NAMES, on sale May 6. Here's what she had to say: "The Names is a sliding doors what-if style novel that looks at how the name we're given might shape the course of a person's life. It opens in 1987 in the wake of a catastrophic storm, as Cora sets out with her 9 year old daughter Maya to register the birth of her son. Her husband Gordon is a local doctor, really well respected in the community, but just the most fearful and controlling presence at home, and he intends for her to follow with a longstanding family tradition to name the child after him. But as Cora's getting nearer and nearer to the registrar's office, she's really starting to think about whether it can be right to impose the burden of that legacy onto this tiny, newborn baby." Sound like the book for you? Let us know in the comments! 👇 #literaryfiction #booktok #florenceknapp #TheNames
On the profile · Mar 29, 2025