The Damages: A Sharp and Propulsive Thriller Exploring Truth, Trauma and Memory in a Post-#metoo World

What I remember best about that week in January is trying to keep track of all the lies I told...

1998. Ontario has been hit by a days-long, life-endangering ice storm, and on Regis University campus, with classes cancelled, the students are partying. In the midst of it all, eighteen-year-old Ros's roommate Megan goes missing. As a panicked search ensues, Ros is blamed for not keeping a closer eye on Megan, and the incident casts a shadow over the next two decades of her life.

2020. Ros's former partner, Lukas, the father of her eleven-year-old son, is accused of a sexual assault. The accusation brings new details of an old story to light, forcing Ros to revisit a dark moment from her past. Ros must take a hard look not only at the father of her child, but also at her own mistakes, her own trauma, and at the supposedly liberal period she grew up in.

PRAISE FOR THE DAMAGES

'A thriller with a narrator you won't be able to get out of your head' - Toronto Star

'Scott opens wide the blurred lines of the Me Too movement... A propelling and thought provoking book that you just can't put down' - The Suburban

'A thought-provoking examination of truth, trauma, and memory, briskly and attentively presenting readers with a vivid portrait of one woman's complicated experiences. A compelling character study that tackles intriguing moral questions' - Kirkus

'This is one of the first novels I've read that does a brilliant job of unpacking the duplicity and dishonesty of the 1990s. An intelligent and intense read about how power structures are passed on - The Damages held me, riveted, in a tight, icy grip' - Claire Cameron, author of The Bear

'Scott is a sophisticated writer, and The Damages is a sharp, multi-layered story about truth, lies, history and memory' - Sarah Selecky, author of Radiant Shimmering Light

'A probing, courageous work – a dance along the tightropes of memory, justice and love. It explodes the myth of the innocent bystander and ultimately celebrates the lifelong moral challenge of learning who you really are' - Sarah Henstra, author of The Red Word

© 2023 Verve Books (Ebook): 9780857308702

Release date

Ebook: December 19, 2023