Literary Fiction · Free kit
The Names
England, 1987. After a history-making storm, Cora walks her nine-year-old daughter Maia to the registrar to name a newborn son. Her husband Gordon — a respected local doctor and a terrifying presence at home — expects the boy to take his name, as the men in his family have. Cora has three names in her head: Bear, the one Maia invented; Julian, the one she chose; and Gordon, the one she has been told to write. The novel follows all three lives, seven years at a time, and asks what a single act of naming can set in motion — and what no name can protect you from.
“Or perhaps, and this is her real concern, she'll formalize who he will become.”
Complete free book club kit
BookClubee may earn a commission from Bookshop.org purchases, which supports independent bookshops.
Plan your meeting
The Names This or That
Answer in under three seconds. No wrong answers — only revealing ones.
1 / 40
Rapid fire (60 seconds)
Read these aloud as fast as the group can shout answers.
- 1. Bear or Julian?
- 2. Tea after a storm or Hot chocolate in a cold kitchen?
- 3. Baby-name book or Blank registrar's form?
- 4. Fir trees behind the house or A hollow under an uprooted oak?
- 5. Irish soda bread or A lemon drizzle on the counter?
- 6. Silver at a workbench or Dirt under an archaeologist's nails?
- 7. A nickname you chose or The name on your birth certificate?
- 8. Ballet shoes by the door or Running shoes by the door?
- 9. Window-box herbs or A radio talking in the kitchen?
- 10. Seven-year jump or One long uninterrupted life?