THE DAMAGES

Both binge-worthy and thought-provoking, and perfect for book clubs, The Damages is a novel spanning over two decades, examining the widespread and varied impacts of a single sexual assault, told from the perspective of a complex protagonist.

For those who enjoyed Netflix's Anatomy of a Scandal, and for readers of The Best Kind of People by Zoe Whittall, The Damages is a novel in two parts, each told from the point of view of Rosalind Fisher at a different stage in her life –first in her freshman year of university in the late 1990s, when an ice storm hits her campus town and triggers a reckless week-long dorm party, and second in the summer of 2020 after Ros's former partner, Lukas, the father of her eleven-year-old son, is accused of sexual assault. As the two narratives weave together, Ros is forced to revisit a dark moment for which she has always held herself responsible, and as a new version of an old story comes to light, she is confronted with a question that is central to the book: if we change how we see ourselves in the past, who do we—and who can we—become?
With sharp dialogue, a quick pace, and honest portrayals reflecting the complexity that exists within us all, Genevieve Scott has rendered a skilled portrait of regret and loss, touching on themes of memory, trauma, consent, parenthood, friendship, forgiveness, and power