The Damagers: A Novel

A stark, incendiary novel about two sisters seeking refuge with a reclusive cult in the Adirondacks: a parable of power and how it is claimed, wielded—and how it transforms.

“Stampeding, mesmeric.” —Claudia Dey
“Awesome in atmosphere. . . . Utterly electrifying.” —Waubgeshig Rice

On a summer evening in 1952, young sisters Zina and Presendia run hand-in-hand into the wooded hills of upstate New York, fleeing their family farmhouse as it collapses into flames.
      Deep in the Adirondack mountains, they en­counter a gritty band of “settlers” occupying a dilapidated sportsmen’s complex nestled along a secluded mountain lake. The girls soon be­come inculcated in the spiritual training and rustic hedonism of the group, attracting the interest of its profane but visionary founder: a rough-necked charismatic named Peter.
      Selected by Peter from the ragged but devoted congregation for her erudition and steely temper, Zina is tasked with codifying his rev­olutionary teachings in a book—a testament to rouse the masses, prophesying the rise of a new consciousness from the ashes of decadent mid-century American society.
     As ghosts from the sisters’ violent past resurface, and the construction of a major highway ex­tension near the settlement accelerates Peter’s anarchic agenda, Zina must choose between turning her back on her new life and adopted flock, or seizing the power she so desires and taking her place next to Peter in the great cata­clysm to come.
      A haunting, strikingly vivid depiction of an isolated world, power and its reproductions, and the forgotten, darker side of postwar American life, The Damagers is potent, unset­tling fiction from an exciting literary talent.

ROB BENVIE is the author of the novels Maintenance, Safety of War, and Bleeding Light. His screenwriting includes the film Stanleyville. Born and raised in Nova Scotia, he currently lives in Toronto.

ISBN: 9781039055681
Format: Hardback
Pages: 368
Publisher: Knopf Canada
Published: June 10, 2025

One of 49th Shelf's Most Anticipated Spring 2025 Fiction

"A stampeding, mesmeric novel, The Damagers is the work of a mind set on fire. Rob Benvie crafts prose like starlight—saturated, precise, and furious—pinpricks that cut through the dark sweep of power and craving. In this singular novel of men who seek to own souls, Benvie offers a handheld mirror to now: to the threat of tyranny, the urgency of knowledge, and the total, lifesaving miracle of sistership." —Claudia Dey, author of Daughter

"Utterly electrifying. . . . Benvie’s astute eye for power, progress, and human fallibility serves as the most dynamic of lenses, drawing out to sweeping, spectacular panoramas before pushing in to intensely gripping moments of conflict, loss—and triumph. Awesome in atmosphere and deeply heartfelt, The Damagers is an enduring reminder of the ever-present threat of despotism in a hostile, quickly changing world. The rich teachings in this novel will stay with me for a long time, namely that utopia and dystopia are one and the same, and they’ve always existed in the present." —Waubgeshig Rice, author of Moon of the Crusted Snow and Moon of the Turning Leaves