Ayla is forty-nine years old, and after the tragic events associated with her first marriage, she has finally met a man she can rely on. Roddy is only seventeen, he lives with his father and grandmother, and he feels cramped and uncomfortable in a small provincial town. He and his friend have a cunning plan to get money to escape, and it looks pretty harmless. But when fate brings Isla and Roddy face to face, all their old lives will end. And everyone will have to learn to live again, sometimes receiving support from the most unexpected quarters... “Grievous Damage” is a novel about how tragically vulnerable each of us is, how a person loses and finds himself. Longlist for the 2002 Booker Prize.