This episode reviews The Names as a debut novel built on a brilliant question: can one name change the course of a life? Florence Knapp follows Cora, a mother trying to name her newborn son while trapped in the shadow of an abusive marriage, then imagines three possible futures through three names: Bear, Julian, and Gordon. In three minutes, the episode asks whether the book’s power comes from fate, from naming, or from the painful truth that even small choices can become acts of resistance.