Whitcoulls Recommends: The Names and The Salt Path

The Names by Florence Knapp. Cora is married to Gordon, a highly respected doctor, but what goes on in their own home is something entirely different. When she has a baby son she heads off to register his birth, with instructions from Gordon that she’s to name the baby after him - but her nine year old daughter has another idea, and Cora has her own preference. The story then splits into three different lines, in each of which the baby boy is given one of these three names and we follow his life until he’s 35 years old - and each of the named scenarios shows the impact of a name on a person’s life. It’s very cleverly done and there’s been a lot of international buzz about it.

The Salt Path by Raynor Winn. This is currently screening at cinemas - the film is based on this book which was originally published in 2018 and has been reissued. It’s the true story of Raynor and her husband known as Moth, who in their 50’s lose absolutely everything and find themselves homeless and destitute - with Moth also suffering a debilitating illness. In the absence of any other options they decide to walk - more than 600 miles on the UK’s South West Coast Path, from Sommerset to Dorset via Devon and Cornwall. It’s an extraordinary story of real courage and endurance, and finding themselves in the process. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News TALKSEDB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Joan mackenzie is with us. Now, Good morning. Lo The
Names by.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
Florence Knapp tell me about this well. It's a really clever,
interesting book which essentially looks at how our names shape
our history. And it's about a woman named Cora and
her husband, Gordon, who's a really successful and highly respected doctor,
although he is constantly belittled by his father, who was
an eminent surgeon and always felt that Gordon had failed

(00:39):
by not following in his footsteps because he's only a doctor,
not a surgeon, and that's had some impacts on his character.
So Gordon is great in the community and he's terrible
at home, where things go on behind closed doors. And Cora,
his wife, is small and petite. Before her marriage, she
was a ballet dancer and she lives in fear, and
some of this book is about what living in that

(01:01):
kind of environment is like. So I will say that
there are some dark themes to it, but it's very clever.
It opens just after she's given birth to a baby boy,
and she takes her nine year old daughter Maya and
heads off to register the birth. Now, Gordon's made it
very clear that this baby is to be named after him,
and on the way to the registry office, Mayer says,

(01:22):
I think we should call him Bear, and Cora herself,
the baby's mother really wants to call him Julian, but
she knows that if she goes against her husband Gordon,
things are not going to go well for her. And
the novel then moves in seven year increments and follows
this baby through until he's thirty five. And there are
three parallel strands in which each in each of which

(01:46):
the boy is given a different name. So in part
of the book is called Gordon, and part of the
book is called Bear, and in part he's called Julia.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Is that the perspective of those people that wanted to
call him those names.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
Well, it's what happens to a baby born into those
circumstances where there is a choice about which name he
might be given, and what the impact of that name
the subsequent environment has on the child. It's clever. It's
a big buzz book overseas. It was trailed to me
months and months and months ago. A lot of people

(02:17):
very excited about it, and I think it's very clever
and well done.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
Okay, interesting, Now, I had the pleasure recently of meeting
raynall Wynn interviewed her on the Sunday Session. She was
just delightful, of course, the author of The Salt Path
and various other books being turned into the movie which
everybody's enjoying starring Jason Isaacson Jillian Anderson. And you're going
to talk about the book I am.

Speaker 3 (02:39):
It was first published in twenty eighteen, so it's not new,
but of course movies give books a whole new life,
and that's what happened with this one. And anyone who
heard that interview will know that it's the true story
of raynal Wynn and her husband, who's known is Moth,
who found themselves destitute and homeless in their fifties after
an investment with a friend of Moths goes terribly, terribly wrong,

(03:03):
and it's all dragged through the courts and they lose everything,
absolutely everything, and it's complicated by the fact that Moth
has an incurable illness and so he's not well and
they have no options, so they decide that they'll go walking,
and they settle on a path which is more than
six hundred miles on the Southwest Coast Path it's called

(03:25):
in the UK, which goes from Somerset to Dorset for
people who know the geography, and it takes you through
Devon and Cornwall, so some pretty spectacular parts of the world.
And they had to carry lightweight packs because they know
they weren't that fit or that you know, ready to
adapt to the outdoors. So they've got unsuitable, flimsy sleeping
bags and a lightweight tent which isn't that good, and

(03:49):
literally no money. They could buy one pot of tea
and share it between them. From time to time. They
could afford a packet of chips, but mostly they lived
on noodles. It's like your student life come back to
visit you in your fifties, and it was arduous and exhausting,
but they didn't have anywhere else they had to be.
There was nowhere else they really could be because they

(04:09):
had nowhere to live, and they just kept going until
they realized that actually there was almost nowhere else they'd
rather be. And it's the story of the making of
two people through extraordinary courage and endurance and finding themselves
in the process.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
I thought of it as a little bit of a
love story, Joan, in the sense that their relationship goes
to a whole new level. They learn a whole lot
about themselves and appreciate things about each other. But also
this love story for nature and just being at one
and you know, with what is going on day to day,
sort of a nature.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
Was just charming immersed in it. Yeah. Yeah, Now it's extraordinary.
And I think if I were to take on something
like that with anybody else, would probably kill each other
halfway along. I'm just not made for it.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
No, it's yeah, good on you for being honest about that, Joan.
I won't say anything else about that. Look beautiful book,
full story, and even though set in harrowing circumstances, it
turns out to be incredibly uplifting and hopeful, doesn't it.

Speaker 3 (05:13):
Yeah, And I'm thrilled for her that it's all been
so successful.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
So that's The Salt Path by ray Norwin. And the
first book that Joan spoke about was The Names by
Florence Nap. Thank you so much.

Speaker 3 (05:23):
See you next week.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks a B from nine am Sunday
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio