The Names

At the end of 1987, the year of a great storm, Cora and her daughter Maia, aged nine, go to register her newborn son in Florence Knapp's debut novel. Her husband, Gordon, a doctor respected in the community but controlling and abusive at home, expects the baby to carry his name, as family tradition demands. Maia has suggested Bear; Cora herself prefers Julian. The novel then follows three alternating versions of the next thirty-five years, one for each name, tracing how domestic abuse ripples through each. Knapp has said she is fascinated by the unconscious associations people bring to names and how these might shape a life. It became a best seller in Britain and the United States.

Jenna Bush Hager chose it for Read With Jenna, her book club list on the Today Show.