Smother

Eve Thomson

• Publisher: Echo
• Year: 2026
• eBook ISBN:
  9781786586049
• Topic: Literature
• Index: Literature

Bruce College, a private school in a leafy Melbourne suburb, is a place for winners. Affectionately known as Bruisers, its boys' football program has a reputation for pumping out superstars. But when its girls' team pushes for glory, sixteen-year-old Grace Dooley is left with a catastrophic brain injury, and her parents want someone held accountable. The school points the finger at the coach, Brick Hannaford, a former professional player who is struggling with the legacy of his lauded, 300-game career. Brick says he was coaching the kids exactly as the parents and school demanded: hard.

In a rut, questioning her single-minded pursuit of a career at the expense of her personal life, lawyer Romola Cross takes on Brick's case. She soon finds herself caught up in the complex and disturbing fallout of school sport turned toxic. As Romola investigates the reasons Grace played that day, she begins to understand the pressures bearing down on the girl - from peers, teachers, coach and parents. But who should take responsibility? What will the Court's judgment be? And, once the case is over, will Romola find what she's been searching for?

Smother is a novel about chasing dreams, and how the quest for victory can risk losses far beyond those on the scoreboard. It's a story about the forces of love, ambition and fear, and finding the right balance before it all comes undone.

Table of contents

• Smother
• Praise for Smother
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Prologue
• Chapter One Birthdays
• Chapter Two A Storm Approaches
• Chapter Three The Hit
• Chapter Four For Every Action
• Chapter Five Head Wounds
• Chapter Six Bruisers
• Chapter Seven Eggs
• Chapter Eight Making Claims
• Chapter Nine Candidates
• Chapter Ten Christmas
• Chapter Eleven The Strong Arm
• Chapter Twelve A Brick Wall
• Chapter Thirteen Changing the Goalposts
• Chapter Fourteen Teenagers
• Chapter Fifteen Spectators
• Chapter Sixteen Exhibitionists
• Chapter Seventeen Attitude
• Chapter Eighteen Absent Witness
• Chapter Nineteen The Search Party
• Chapter Twenty The Road Trip
• Chapter Twenty-one The Shed
• Chapter Twenty-two Daisy’s Secret
• Chapter Twenty-three Hue and Cry
• Chapter Twenty-four Love and Protect
• Chapter Twenty-five Instructions
• Chapter Twenty-six Contacts
• Chapter Twenty-seven The Ball
• Chapter Twenty-eight All Stand
• Chapter Twenty-nine A Brick and a Hard Place
• Chapter Thirty Charlie
• Chapter Thirty-one Judgment Reserved
• Chapter Thirty-two Where Liability Lies
• Chapter Thirty-three What Came Next
• Acknowledgements
• She Too
• About the Author
• Imprint