Australian author Diana Reid returns with Signs of Damage, a thrilling summer noir set in France

Several years ago, Diana Reid began to notice an emerging trend: trauma plots. They were ubiquitous in books, films, and television series. This narrative pattern gradually became a common creative technique, attracting the attention of many viewers.

"You’d see a character who’s a bit kooky or self-destructive – like Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s character in Fleabag – and there’d be these flashbacks interspersed through the narrative, hinting that something terrible had happened," the author said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's national radio book program. "And then in the final episode, you’d find out what that terrible thing was, and you’d feel a sense of relief because you knew why they’d been behaving that way." Once you start noticing this pattern, you can't unsee it.

While Reid acknowledges that trauma can often explain some problematic behavior, she believes it has now become the default explanation. She explores this "cultural script" in her latest novel, *Signs of Damage*, a sequel to *Love and Virtue* (2021) and *Seeing Other People* (2022). She stated that she doesn't want to completely negate this narrative, but rather question whether it always applies.

In *Signs of Damage*, 13-year-old Cass goes on a luxurious holiday to a villa in the south of France with her friend's family. For the naive teenager who has never traveled abroad, "the whole holiday…is very chic and cultured." However, a dark stain mars the otherwise idyllic stay: one afternoon, Cass goes missing. Hours later, she is found trapped in a disused storeroom on the grounds, shaken by the ordeal but otherwise unharmed. This traumatic event regains importance when, as an adult, Cass begins to experience seizures that medical experts struggle to explain.

Reid explains: "She has what’s called a functional neurological disorder, which is essentially where you’re exhibiting symptoms without a clear physiological cause. Her seizures are disruptive to her life and as dangerous as epilepsy." Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) accounts for 20 to 30% of people seeking treatment for epilepsy. Reid says: "It’s…psychosomatic. The cause is in their mind, but that’s not to say it’s not real, it’s neurological." The condition can also manifest in other unexplained illnesses, such as irritable bowel syndrome and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Reid became interested in FND after reading *All in Your Head* by British neurologist Suzanne O'Sullivan. She learned that in many cases, FND is indeed caused by past trauma. Reid says: "For these people, looking into their past to find the triggering event can be really therapeutic." However, this explanation does not account for all cases. "Some patients report that they feel like everyone around them is imposing this explanation on them, and it almost makes them feel like if they were just mentally stronger, or if they just confronted their past, then they would be cured."

As the narrative in *Signs of Damage* switches between the south of France in 2008 and present-day Sydney and Italy, the mystery of what happened during Cass's missing hours and how it relates to her health slowly unravels. Her friend Annika – who has long felt guilty about her role in the holiday incident – has a theory: "Cass’s seizures aren’t just random outbursts; they’re the ugly expression of something she’s suppressing." Whether she is correct is one of the central questions of the novel.

Reid says: "The whole book is about how perception is flawed, and how people twist facts to fit their story." There is another mystery in *Signs of Damage*. In the prologue, Cass is at a Tuscan police station talking to a coroner. Someone has fallen to their death from a balcony – but we don’t find out who until the end of the novel. She describes her book as "summer noir," and she likens this narrative setup to the popular TV series *The White Lotus*. But she says it’s a genre with a long literary history.

Particular sources of inspiration were the first book in Edward St Aubyn’s Patrick Melrose series, *Never Mind*; Alan Hollinghurst’s *The Line of Beauty* (which won the 2004 Booker Prize); and the 2003 French film *Swimming Pool*, starring Charlotte Rampling. These stories – set in luxurious surroundings, where terrible things happen to wealthy and powerful people – offer a satisfying sense of schadenfreude. Reid says: "They’re fun to read. That’s why *The White Lotus* is so popular – because you get the best of both worlds…all the escapism, but you’re not sacrificing the more thrilling elements of something darker."

*Signs of Damage* (published by Ultimo Press) is available now.