The Names

This is a truly special book, one that you will think about long after you finish reading. If you loved The Midnight Library, you’ll love this. The books are very different, but also very similar in terms of that sort of Sliding Doors sort of vibe. Cora is about to register the name of her newborn son. She could name him Gordon as she is expected to do, after a long line of Gordons (none of them – including her abusive, controlling husband, are particularly remarkable or people she wants her newborn son to emulate), or she could go in a different direction. There’s Bear (her daughter Maia’s choice) and there is Julian (her choice). The book explores the next thirty-five years, all depending on whether the baby was named Gordon, Bear, or Julian. The gigantic impact of tiny choices. What happens when you rebel. What happens when you submit and stay in an unhappy marriage. And the ripple effect on everyone else. Based on the names she chose, each version of Cora, Maia, her husband, and the boy all lived such different lives. I found it unputdownable. Some chapters felt like a thriller, others a romance. And it’s such a creative premise. This is, in my humble opinion, one of the best books of summer.