The Damagers

A Novel

Author  Rob Benvie
The Damagers

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…