Will I love The Names?

This story of domestic abuse was sometimes so painful that I was actually holding my breath. The father's sly psychological manipulation and physical battering; the mother's self-justification; the son's and daughter's changing attitudes as they grew—were all raw and vivid.

On top of that, the book is actually three alternating versions of how the story might have unfolded, depending on what name the mother had chosen for the son at birth, so it was interesting to compare what-ifs. And the end: Perfect!

It's beautifully written across all three multi-layered story lines. I have genuinely never read anything quite like it.