The Damages by Genevieve Scott

1997: For Ros, starting university at Regis is an opportunity for reinvention a chance to be seen as interesting, to be accepted by the in-crowd, and maybe even get a boyfriend. But when she meets her roommate, Megan, with her pleated jeans and horse-print bedding, she sees her as a social liability. Outside of their dorm room, Ros distances herself from Megan and quickly befriends the cool kids, seeking status at all costs.Just after winter break,an intense ice storm hits campus, triggering a reckless, days-long dorm party, during which Megan goes missing. Ros is blamed fortheincident and abruptly dropped by her social circle, castingashadowoverthenext 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 torevisit 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 supposed liberal period she grew up in. (From Penguin Random House Canada)

• The CBC Books fall reading list: 40 Canadian books to read this season
• Genevieve Scott explores sex, consent and the 'duplicity & dishonesty' of the late-90s in novel The Damages
• The best Canadian fiction of 2023

Genevieve Scott is a Canadian author and teacher based in California. Her previous workwas the novelCatch My Drift.

Interviews with Genevieve Scott

The Next Chapter19:44Genevieve Scott explores the complicated sexual dynamics of the 90s in The Damages

Set in the 1990s era of girl power, sex positivity and the ClintonLewinsky scandal, the novel tells the story of a Canadian student named Megan who mysteriously disappears.