How Did "The Names" by Florence Knapp End? All The Spoilers and Twists!

How does "The Names" by Florence Knapp end? Have you finished reading "The Names" and desperately need to discuss it? Or maybe you've read it, but can't remember how "The Names" ends, or do you want to skip ahead to discover all the spoilers? Need a refresher on "The Names" before heading off to book club tonight? Keep reading to discuss this romance novel and all the twists and turns at the end!

Spoilers ahead!

How Did "The Names" by Florence Knapp End?

 

What Are the Twists and Spoilers?

There are three different storylines we follow in "The Names"—Bear, Julian, and Gordon. Bear’s storyline follows Cora, Bear, and Maia after Gordon Sr., the husband, is found guilty of murdering a neighbor who tried to step in for Cora. Julian’s storyline follows Julian and Maia after Cora is killed by Gordon. The Gordon storyline imagines what the lives of Cora, Maia, and Gordon would be like if Cora had given her son the family name. Each of the stories ends in a very different way for the characters.

Bear

Bear's story ends during COVID. Bear is married to Lily, and they have a daughter, Pearl, whom they are homeschooling. While in the attic one day with his daughter, Bear is stung by a wasp. Unbeknownst to Bear, he is allergic and begins to feel unwell. To protect his daughter, Bear places her in another room to watch a tablet, and then he goes to the living room to try to find his wife. Lily finds him, but because they do not have an EPIPen, Bear passes away. 

Bear's funeral is broadcast via live stream. Due to travel restrictions and the broad reach of their friendships, many people want to be able to attend from afar. Maia and Lily have a conversation after Bear's passing about how Bear used to dream about his death, and in each scenario, Maia was always there to comfort him. 

One day, Lily gets a call on Bear's phone from a car salesman calling to let him know that his electric car is ready to be picked up. Bear had fully paid for the car, and it was meant to be a surprise for his wife; however, because of the pandemic and slow production, it was not ready until after his passing. 

Gordon, the father, reaches out to Maia. He is out of jail and mails her to try to reconnect. Maia carries around the letter for a while. Ultimately, she decides to read it and finds out that after her father served his prison sentence, he lived at a charity for domestic abusers and also worked there. Before murdering the neighbor, Gordon was a respected physician in the community who, despite being a terrible person otherwise, was a good doctor and likely used those skills while working with men who had committed domestic abuse and were working towards improving themselves. In the letter, Gordon also reveals that he has another daughter, a half-sibling to Maia and Bear. He has little relationship with this daughter or the mother, but says that is not because of abuse. In the letter, Gordon apologizes to Maia, her brother, and her mother, and tells Maia to feel free to share the letter and apologies if she wants to. She decides to keep the letter and its contents to herself and tosses the letter into the sea. 

Mehri supports Cora after Bear's death just as she did when Gordon was taken away. Cora reconnects with someone she went on a date with twenty years ago. Felix had been kind, and the date had gone well, but at that time, Cora was not ready to be in another relationship. Cora's ending to the story is incredibly warm and hopeful. We see her with Felix "in a conversation that will continue to slowly unspool across all the years they have left."

Julian

Julian's story picks up during COVID. Julian and his wife, Orla, are separated, and she has taken their children to live with her parents. While COVID was certainly a stressful time to be an independent artist, and the financial strain hurt their relationship, there were many reasons for their separation. The largest of which seems to be that Julian was an incredibly passive person. So passive that he struggles to discipline his own children or express himself during a fight with his wife. Julian is frustrated by his environment, but puts a lid on properly expressing those feelings because he is "always fearful of who he might become to do things any other way." Julian lives in fear of becoming his father, which we have seen in different ways throughout his life.

After they leave, Julian dives into his business but also begins to work on the house. He was inspired by how his mother fought tooth and nail for him and their family before her life was taken by Gordon. He also begins to work in their garden, sensing a connection to his mother there. Maia reminds Julian that their mother used to send them to the garden behind some trees if she thought Gordon was going to lose his temper. They called it picnic time because she made the kids tupperware bowls of snacks that they could eat while they waited. Maia also shares with Julian that their father had wanted Julian to take his name. Sharing this leads to Maia sharing many of the memories of their mother that she has, as the older sister, that Julian has forgotten or was not aware of, because he was too young. In learning more about his father, Julian understands just how different he is and separates his identity from that fear.

Maia falls in love with a former patient. Silbhe passes away. Julian decides to start selling his jewelry in England. Orla visits the house and sees the effort Julian has put into the house and his changed demeanor. Julian asks Orla to come home so that they can be together as a family, and she agrees.

Gordon

Gordon's story begins with him sober and working at an art gallery. Gordon is dating a woman named Comfort who has a daughter, Ida. Comfort knows about Harold's past. Due to the pandemic, they began living together shortly after they started dating, and Gordon has a playful relationship with the daughter. 

Gordon Sr. is gone, and Cora is free of his abuse. In comparison to the last four years, the COVID lockdown feels easy to her. The author flashes back to when Gordon came to live at home after a car accident. Gordon would stick up for his mother when Gordon Sr was rude to her. For example, questioning why Gordon Sr says that Cora burns food when she doesn’t. Afterwards, Cora and Gordon develop a deep bond compared to their initially shakey period when Gordon would betray Cora to gain praise from his father. Gordon brings his mother chocolate candy to eat, knowing that his father does not allow her to eat sweets. Gordon announces he is moving out to work at the gallery and shows back up at the house a few days later. Cora is surprised when Gordon hands her a key and tells Cora that he just left Gordon Sr’s office. Gordon had set up hidden video cameras in the smoke detectors at their home and captured the abuse Gordon committed against Cora. Disarmed by that evidence, Gordon Sr signs the deed for the house over to Cora to keep the secret of his abuse.

Epilogue 

At the end of the book the author returns to Gordon Sr. as he dies of a heart attack. In his mind, he recognizes the terrible life he has led and how different his relationships could have been. What if, for example, instead of revering his own father, Gordon had seen the way others thought of him and vowed to never be like him. A full circle moment occurs at the end of the novel when Cora goes into the office and registers her son's name as Hugh, this time, the name of her deceased father, a new name and a totally different path ahead.

What other twists and turns were you surprised by reading "The Names" by Florence Knapp? Did you see the ending coming for each character or were you surprised!? Did the book end how you had hoped? Comment down below and let me know!