Book Club Meets: Sliding doors and the power of a name, with Florence Knapp

Happy Place with Fearne Cotton

Friday, 4 July 2025 - 30 minutes

Has your name influenced who you’ve become? Would you have different characteristics, would people react differently to you, would your life have turned out differently, if you had a different name? These are the questions author Florence Knapp grapples with in her book The Names – our Happy Place Book Club read for June.In this chat, Fearne and Florence share their own experiences of having slightly unusual names, and how they shaped them. Florence also explains the long journey she’s been on to get a novel published, having started writing in the late ‘90s, and wonders that she likes getting lost in fictional worlds because she’s naturally introverted.Thank you to Phoenix for the use of The Names audiobook, narrated by Dervla Kirwan, and to composer and musician Jeni Saint for the opening music.If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like: Book Club Meets: Emily Henry Book Club Meets: Lorna Tucker Book Club Meets: Clare Leslie Hall Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.