The Names He Gave Me
For readers of Never Let Me Go and Home Fire
Think about an ordinary evening. Someone is cooking. Someone else is complaining about the cooking. The house sounds like it will sound this way tomorrow.
A man in Massachusetts believed that. He learned the neighbors' names. He shoveled their walks. He planted asparagus because he believed in three years from now. He raised his children as if the ground they stood on belonged to them.
His daughter is the only one left.
Early Readers
"I finished it and sat in my kitchen for twenty minutes. Couldn't move. Then I called my dad and I couldn't explain why I was calling."
- Sarah K., Portland, OR
"I've been in a book club for fifteen years and I read constantly. I have never cried like this. Not once. I'm still not over it."
- Deborah M., Newton, MA
"Prize-winning writing. Genuinely. This is something very special."
- A.J., London, UK
"I drove past my own house after finishing and just looked at the windows for a while. Thinking about who was inside. I've never done that before."
- Michael R., Cambridge, MA
"The asparagus. God. I will never look at a garden the same way."
- Priya N., Chicago, IL
From the novel
He said asparagus takes three years. You plant the crowns and you tend the ferns and you do not cut anything no matter how ready it looks. Three years. Then it gives you what it has.
She said that is a very long time to wait.
He said some things are.
The ground did not hold us.
He was right about the asparagus.
For Book Clubs
This novel was built for conversation.
Free copies for your group + the author joins your discussion via video call.
At what point did you realize you were doing the same thing the neighbors were doing?
When does protection become a form of harm?
"He planted things he would never eat." What does the asparagus represent, and how does its meaning change from the first chapter to the last?
Reading group guide available. Email mamoon@briarlanepress.com to arrange.
Available February 2027
Hardcover, paperback, and ebook.
About the Author
Mamoon Chowdry is a British-Pakistani writer. The son of immigrants from Pakistan, he was born and raised in England, served in the Royal Air Force, and moved to the United States in 1999. He has spent his working life inside large systems and has written about families, belonging, and what people lose when the ground beneath them moves. The Names He Gave Me is his debut novel. He lives in Massachusetts.
Press and review copies: mamoon@briarlanepress.com
Published by Briar Lane Press