The Names is an emotionally haunting story about how a mother’s choice – what to name her son – shapes not just his life, but the lives of everyone around him.

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In the aftermath of a stormy day in 1987, Cora takes her nine year old daughter Maia with her to the registrar’s office to register the name of her newborn son.

Her husband Gordon expects that their son will be named Gordon, like all the men in his family. Cora hates the name Gordon- not just the sound of it (“The way it starts with a splintering sound that makes her think of cracked boiled sweets, and then ends with a thud like someone slamming down a sports bag.”), but the fear and violence it represents, as she is trapped in an abusive marriage. She does not want to “pour the goodness of her son into its mold, hoping he’ll be strong enough to find his own shape within it.”

Maia wants to name her baby brother Bear – cuddly yet strong. Cora wants to name him Julian – sky father – to transcend a “long line of troubled earth fathers.” She arrives at the registrar’s office unsettled – will she obey her husband’s expectations and name him Gordon, or will she find the courage to make a different choice?

Three parallel stories ensue, one for each version of life that her son lives under each name (a la Life After Life or Sliding Doors). The narrative unfolds over 35 years, with a chapter each for Bear, Julian, and Gordon every seven years. Over the years we see the consequences of her naming decision on her son, his sister, and Cora’s own life.

The generational impact of Gordon’s abuse is a common thread throughout the stories, with Bear/Julian/Gordon each carrying the trauma of his father’s history differently. In this multiverse, other characters and events show up in varied ways in each story, reminding us how every decision we make can significantly alter the course of our lives.

The feelings unleashed in Cora after choosing each name at the registrar’s office are vivid. Joy – “a whole body, dizzying happiness” – at naming him Bear. An immediate feeling of being rooted – “As though, feet planted, she holds the two kite strings of her children’s lives safe in her palm” when she chooses Julian. And an immediate darkness and detachment from the baby when she names him Gordon.

Ultimately, the book is less about the specific names than it is about the enduring impact of the doors we choose to walk through in life. It was a bit uneven for me at times but generally very impressive for a debut novel with some genuinely heart wrenching moments.