★The British Book Award Winner-Debut Fiction"The Names is a truly gorgeous, heart-opening novel. I couldn't put it down, and I'm grateful to have Cora and her children living inside my heart now. What a wonderful book!" --Ann Napolitano, New York Times bestselling author of Hello Beautiful "Magnificent. A stunning, hopeful, bitterly beautiful novel....Read it. It's very special."--Chris Whitaker, New York Times bestselling author of All the Colors of the DarkThe extraordinary novel that asks: Can a name change the course of a life? In the wake of a catastrophic storm, Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register her son's birth. Her husband, Gordon, a local doctor, respected in the community but a terrifying and controlling presence at home, intends for her to name the infant after him. But when the registrar asks what she'd like to call the child, Cora hesitates... Spanning thirty-five years, what follows are three alternate and alternating versions of Cora's and h