The Damages

Praise

Praise for The Damages:
A CBC’S BEST CANADIAN FICTION OF 2023 PICK

“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 Reviews

“If you’re looking for a book that will generate a big discussion with your book club, then look no further than The Damages by Genevieve Scott. Scott did a fantastic job at capturing the 90’s and the ice storm…I…felt transported back to those days. I also loved the way she showcases the narcissism of youth and that need to find your place…. This is a propelling and thought provoking book that you just can’t put down.” —The Suburban

“A narrator you won’t be able to get out of your head this summer…. A first and ongoing pleasure of The Damages is the narrating voice of Ros Fisher. In it, there’s candour, a biting sharpness and a bristling impatience with decorum. The opening line—’What I remember best about that week in January is trying to keep track of all the lies I told’—establishes both Ros’s surgical tone and her seeming assuredness in the present day…Ros…as the narrator of a novel she’s a keeper. A testament to Genevieve Scott’s sure hand as a writer, Ros sells the story…. Ros’s voice never falters and the sophomore novel of Scott (Catch My Drift), a Southern Californian who grew up in Toronto, entices, whether she confides moral failings or describes baking a dessert.”
—Toronto Star

“Riveting and engaging.” —The Ontarion

“In the 1990s, women were going to university and joining the workforce in record numbers. Why, then, do many of us have conflicted feelings when looking back? This is one of the first novels I’ve read that does a brilliant job of unpacking the duplicity and dishonesty of the era. 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 and The Last Neanderthal

“The Damages is 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, winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction

“The Damages is an eerily sharp depiction of being self-conscious, self-obsessed, and eighteen in the late nineties, and just how painful it can be to face the past and question why one makes the choices they do when they’re young. Packed with insecurity, embarrassment, jealousy, and shame, each page made me anxious in the best possible way. Heart pounding, I couldn’t stop reading!” —Cedar Bowers, Scotiabank Giller Prize-longlisted author of Astra
 
“There is a skillful irony in a character so courageously honest about her lies. Genevieve Scott offers a view inside of a complicated woman from young adulthood to middle age, in refreshing and deceptively clean prose. The Damages takes a critical look at truth and perspective in a (post-) #MeToo era, calling into question the ways our personal truths are shaped by our pasts.” —Fawn Parker, Scotiabank Giller Prize-longlisted author of What We Both Know

“The Damages led me into a maze with a thread—and then just never let me go. This story builds with thrilling intensity through moral knots and human dilemmas, led by a brilliantly complex protagonist as she navigates her way through betrayal, guilt and culpability.” 
—Charlotte Gill, author of Almost Brown

“The Damages is the most honest novel I’ve read in a long time. A propulsive story about the complexities of trust, the cruelties in relationships, and the space between meaning well and doing good. Genevieve Scott is a fresh, brilliant voice in fiction.”
—Leah Mol, author of Sharp Edges

“Genevieve Scott is a sophisticated writer, and The Damages is a sharp, multi-layered story about truth, lies, history and memory. I stayed up late to finish it! I was not disappointed: this is a complex and satisfying novel.”
—Sarah Selecky, author of Radiant Shimmering Light

“As with the best books inspired by #MeToo, [Scott] doesn’t come to neat conclusions, but instead engages with the mess of it all, teasing out the multitudinous threads, asking questions instead of claiming to have all the answers. A terrific read.” Kerry Clare, author of Asking for a Friend