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The Heart Goes Last of Margaret Atwood

The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood

Stan and Charmaine are a married couple trying to stay afloat in the midst of an economic and social collapse. Job loss has forced them to live in their car. They desperately need to turn their situation around, and fast. The Positron Project in the town of Consilience seems to be the answer. Everyone gets a comfortable, clean house to live in… for six months out of the year. On alternating months, residents of Consilience must leave their homes and function as inmates in the prison system. Once their month of service in the prison is completed, they can return to their “civilian” homes.

At first, this doesn’t seem like too much of a sacrifice to make but when Charmaine becomes romantically involved with the man who lives in their house during the months when she and Stan are in the prison, a series of troubling events puts Stan’s life in danger.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Cheating
Bestiality
Imprisonment
Homelessness

The Possession of Mr Cave of Matt Haig

The Possession of Mr Cave by Matt Haig

Terence Cave, intellectual, music-lover and owner of Cave Antiques, has experienced more than his share of tragedies. His mother’s suicide and his young wife’s death at the hands of burglars left him to bring up his young twins alone. And now one of them has died in a grotesque accident as a result of bullying.

Bryony, the remaining twin, has always been the family’s great hope: a golden teenager, in love with her cello and her pony, clever, sweet and eager to please. Now that she is all Terence has left, he realises that his one duty in life is to keep her safe from the world’s malign forces, whatever that may take. As he starts to follow his grieving daughter’s movements, and enforces a draconian set of rules purely for her own safety, the voices in his head convince him to protect her innocence at any cost.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Suicide
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a wife
Death of a mother

The Last Family in England of Matt Haig

The Last Family in England by Matt Haig

Also known as The Labrador Pact.

Meet the Hunter family: Adam, Kate, and their children Hal and Charlotte. And Prince, their black Labrador.

Prince is an earnest young dog, striving hard to live up to the tenets of the Labrador Pact (Remain Loyal to Your Human Masters, Serve and Protect Your Family at Any Cost). Other dogs, led by the Springer Spaniels, have revolted. As things in the Hunter family begin to go badly awry – marital breakdown, rowdy teenage parties, attempted suicide – Prince’s responsibilities threaten to overwhelm him and he is forced to break the Labrador Pact and take desperate action to save his Family.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Cheating
Attempted suicide
Animal death

The Dead Fathers Club of Matt Haig

The Dead Fathers Club by Matt Haig

Eleven-year-old Philip Noble is at his father’s funeral when who should appear but his father’s ghost, who wastes no time in telling Philip that his Uncle Alan, an auto mechanic, tampered with his car, causing the accident that killed him. He warns Philip that Uncle Alan will shortly be tampering with his mother too, because Unctuous Uncle Alan wants the pub that Philip’s father owned.

The solution to this problem, according to Philip’s dad, is that he must kill Uncle Alan. If he doesn’t do it before Dad’s next birthday, 11 weeks away, Dad will be consigned to the Terrors for all eternity. Philip agrees, in principle, but killing someone, especially without getting caught, isn’t easy. But a promise is a promise, so Philip gives it a whirl, in fact, several whirls. Real life interferes in the persons of two school bullies, truly nasty and perverse thugs, who seem ready to kill Philip because they think it’s funny that his father died. Philip also falls in love, and his Ophelia (named Leah) thinks that shoplifting is tons of fun. Poor Philip is in over his head in every way possible.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Death of a father
Murder
Car accident
Bullying

Reasons to Stay Alive of Matt Haig

Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig

Everyone’s lives are touched by mental illness: if we do not suffer from it ourselves, then we have a friend or loved one who does. Matt’s frankness about his experiences is both inspiring to those who feel daunted by depression and illuminating to those who are mystified by it. Above all, his humor and encouragement never let us lose sight of hope. Speaking as his present self to his former self in the depths of depression, Matt is adamant that the oldest cliché is the truest—there is light at the end of the tunnel. He teaches us to celebrate the small joys and moments of peace that life brings, and reminds us that there are always reasons to stay alive.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Anxiety
Depression
Suicide & suicidal ideation

The Humans of Matt Haig

The Humans by Matt Haig

After an ‘incident’ one wet Friday night where he is found walking naked through the streets of Cambridge, Professor Andrew Martin is not feeling quite himself. Food sickens him. Clothes confound him. Even his loving wife and teenage son are repulsive to him. He feels lost amongst an alien species and hates everyone on the planet. Everyone, that is, except Newton, and he’s a dog. Who is he really? And what could make someone change their mind about the human race…?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Fatmisia & body shaming
Cheating
Depression
Suicide & attempted suicide
Self harm
Heart attack
Bullying

The Midnight Library of Matt Haig

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Depression discussed (protagonist)
Alcoholism
Panic attack
Suicide, suicidal ideation & attempted suicide (protagonist, on-page)
Self-harm mentioned
Drug abuse
Terminal illness & cancer
Emesis
Death of a parent
Death of a sibling
Car accident
Drowning mentioned
Death of a pet (cat) & animal cruelty mentioned

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

Jessamyn Teoh is closeted, broke and moving back to Malaysia, a country she left when she was a toddler. So when Jess starts hearing voices, she chalks it up to stress. But there’s only one voice in her head, and it claims to be the ghost of her estranged grandmother, Ah Ma. In life Ah Ma was a spirit medium, the avatar of a mysterious deity called the Black Water Sister. Now she’s determined to settle a score against a gang boss who has offended the god–and she’s decided Jess is going to help her do it.

Drawn into a world of gods, ghosts, and family secrets, Jess finds that making deals with capricious spirits is a dangerous business. As Jess fights for retribution for Ah Ma, she’ll also need to regain control of her body and destiny. If she fails, the Black Water Sister may finish her off for good.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Homomisia
Misogyny
Racism
Attempted rape
Physical abuse mentioned
Anxiety
Cancer & remission mentioned

How It All Blew Up by Arvin Ahmadi

How It All Blew Up by Arvin Ahmadi

Eighteen-year-old Amir Azadi always knew coming out to his Muslim family would be messy–he just didn’t think it would end in an airport interrogation room. But when faced with a failed relationship, bullies, and blackmail, running away to Rome is his only option. Right?

Soon, late nights with new friends and dates in the Sistine Chapel start to feel like second nature… until his old life comes knocking on his door. Now, Amir has to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth to a U.S. Customs officer, or risk losing his hard-won freedom.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism & racial profiling
Islamophobia
Homomisia
Coming out themes, including threatened outing
Blackmail

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

When Gyre Price lied her way into this expedition, she thought she’d be mapping mineral deposits, and that her biggest problems would be cave collapses and gear malfunctions. She also thought that the fat paycheck—enough to get her off-planet and on the trail of her mother—meant she’d get a skilled surface team, monitoring her suit and environment, keeping her safe. Keeping her sane.

Instead, she got Em.

Em sees nothing wrong with controlling Gyre’s body with drugs or withholding critical information to “ensure the smooth operation” of her expedition. Em knows all about Gyre’s falsified credentials, and has no qualms using them as a leash—and a lash. And Em has secrets, too… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Child neglect & abandonment
Claustrophobia
Hallucinations & delusions
Nonconsensual administrations of drugs & medical treatment
Blood & gore depiction
Physical injury & illness
Dead bodies
Emesis
Needles
Surgery
Hospital mentioned
Death from starvation
Amputation & loss of limb
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a mother & father recounted
Death from a fall
Drowning
Cave disasters
Loss of bodily autonomy