Whitcoulls Recommends: The Names and The Salt Path - The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

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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