Classics – Page 2 – Trigger Warning Database

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

Orphaned at an early age, Philip Ashley is raised by his benevolent older cousin, Ambrose. Resolutely single, Ambrose delights in Philip as his heir, a man who will love his grand home as much as he does himself. But the cosy world the two construct is shattered when Ambrose sets off on a trip to Florence. There he falls in love and marries – and there he dies suddenly. In almost no time at all, the new widow – Philip’s cousin Rachel – turns up in England. Despite himself, Philip is drawn to this beautiful, sophisticated, mysterious woman like a moth to the flame. And yet …might she have had a hand in… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Sexism
Domestic violence
Death of a parent

The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume

The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume

In the early morning hours, two men enter a hansom cab. When the first man exits the cab, the driver continues on to the second’s destination—only to discover upon arrival that the remaining passenger is dead, murdered in the backseat. Police detective Samuel Gorby believes the solution to the crime is as simple as identifying the passengers. But Kilsip, Gorby’s rival on the force, thinks the case is more complicated, and Defense Attorney Duncan Calton concurs. Upon further investigation, the mystery takes a series of strange and unsettling turns, leading the investigators into dark, secret places they never imagined they would go… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Alcohol abuse
Murder

The Island of Doctor Moreau by HG Wells

The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells

Adrift in a dinghy, Edward Prendick, the single survivor from the good ship Lady Vain, is rescued by a vessel carrying a profoundly unusual cargo – a menagerie of savage animals. Tended to recovery by their keeper Montgomery, who gives him dark medicine that tastes of blood, Prendick soon finds himself stranded upon an uncharted island in the Pacific with his rescuer and the beasts. Here, he meets Montgomery’s master, the sinister Dr. Moreau – a brilliant scientist whose notorious experiments in vivisection have caused him to abandon the civilised world. It soon becomes clear he has been developing these experiments – with truly horrific results.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Suicidal ideation
Alcohol consumption & abuse
Medical experimentation
Body horror
Animal cruelty & torture
Animal death & dead bodies
Animal attack
Gun violence
Whipping

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

Lillian and Madison were unlikely roommates and yet inseparable friends at their elite boarding school. But then Lillian had to leave the school unexpectedly in the wake of a scandal and they’ve barely spoken since. Until now, when Lillian gets a letter from Madison pleading for her help.

Madison’s twin stepkids are moving in with her family and she wants Lillian to be their caretaker… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Death of a mother from suicide
Attempted infanticide by overdose

The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle

A dense yellow miasma swirls in the streets of London as Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson accompany a beautiful young woman to a sinister assignation.

For Mary Morstan has received several large pearls – one a year for the last six years – and now a mystery letter telling her she is a wronged woman. If she would seek justice she is to meet her unknown benefactor, bringing with her two companions… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Colonialism
Racism
Drug use

Carmilla by J Sheridan Le Fanu

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

In an isolated castle deep in the Austrian forest, teenaged Laura leads a solitary life with only her father, attendant and tutor for company. Until one moonlit night, a horse-drawn carriage crashes into view, carrying an unexpected guest — the beautiful Carmilla.

So begins a feverish friendship between Laura and her entrancing new companion, one defined by mysterious happenings and infused with an implicit but undeniable eroticism. As Carmilla becomes increasingly… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Blood depiction
Decapitation

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Peopling its landscape are Dorothea Brooke, a young idealist whose search for intellectual fulfilment leads her into a disastrous marriage to the pedantic scholar Casaubon; the charming but tactless Dr Lydgate, whose marriage to the spendthrift beauty Rosamund and pioneering medical methods threaten to undermine his career; and the religious hypocrite Bulstrode, hiding scandalous crimes from his past.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Miscarriage

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare creates a violent world, in which two young people fall in love. It is not simply that their families disapprove; the Montagues and the Capulets are engaged in a blood feud.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Suicide by poisoning
Murder
Sword violence

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

Seventeen-year-old Molly Gibson worships her widowed father. But when he decides to remarry, Molly’s life is thrown off course by the arrival of her vain, shallow, and selfish stepmother. There is some solace in the shape of her new stepsister Cynthia, who is beautiful, sophisticated, and irresistible to every man she meets. Soon the girls become close, and Molly finds herself cajoled into becoming a go-between in Cynthia’s love affairs. But in doing so, Molly risks ruining her reputation in the gossiping village of Hollingford – and jeopardizing everything with the man she is secretly in love with.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Death of a friend
Blackmail

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

Before Owen Michaels disappears, he manages to smuggle a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers: Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother.

As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered; as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Abandonment
Death of a parent
Murder
Car accident