Historical Fiction – Page 54 – Trigger Warning Database

An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole

An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole

Elle Burns is a former slave with a passion for justice and an eidetic memory. Trading in her life of freedom in Massachusetts, she returns to the indignity of slavery in the South—to spy for the Union Army.

Malcolm McCall is a detective for Pinkerton’s Secret Service. Subterfuge is his calling, but he’s facing his deadliest mission yet—risking his life to infiltrate a Rebel enclave in Virginia… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism & racial slurs
Slavery
Rape mentioned
Gun violence
Physical assault
Near-drowning incident
War themes

Be Not Afraid by Alyssa Cole

Be Not Afraid by Alyssa Cole

Elijah Sutton is no fool, despite his love of a country that enslaves people like him. When he’s offered land, livestock, and—most importantly—his freedom if he fights in his Patriot owner’s stead, Elijah believes he’ll soon have everything he ever wanted…and then he meets Kate.

The Crown has promised freedom to slaves who escape their Patriot masters and join the British side, and Kate intends to take them up on it. She’s eager to leave America—and the painful memories it holds for her—far behind…and then she meets Elijah… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Slavery
Rape recounted

Bright Ruined Things by Samantha Cohoe

Bright Ruined Things by Samantha Cohoe

The only life Mae has ever known is on the island, living on the charity of the wealthy Prosper family who control the magic on the island and the spirits who inhabit it. Mae longs for magic of her own and to have a place among the Prosper family, where her best friend, Coco, will see her as an equal, and her crush, Miles, will finally see her. Now that she’s eighteen, Mae knows her time with the Prospers may soon come to an end.

But tonight is First Night, when the Prospers and their high-society friends return to… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia
Outing
Parental abandonment
Suicidal ideation
Suicide mentioned
Alcohol consumption
Drug abuse mentioned
Loss of autonomy (possession)

A Golden Fury by Samantha Cohoe

Thea Hope longs to be an alchemist out of the shadow of her famous mother. The two of them are close to creating the legendary Philosopher’s Stone—whose properties include immortality and can turn any metal into gold—but just when the promise of the Stone’s riches is in their grasp, Thea’s mother destroys the Stone in a sudden fit of violent madness.

While combing through her mother’s notes, Thea learns that there’s a curse on the Stone that causes anyone who tries to make it to lose… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Physical & emotional parental abuse
Hallucinations
Attempted suicide by drowning
Self-harm
Murder
Torture
Physical assault

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, which harvests fiction from different realities. And along with her enigmatic assistant Kai, she’s posted to an alternative London. Their mission – to retrieve a dangerous book. But when they arrive, it’s already been stolen. London’s underground factions seem prepared to fight to the very death to find her book.

Adding to the jeopardy, this world is chaos-infested – the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Murder
Near-drowning

The Odyssey by Homer

The Odyssey by Homer

The epic tale of Odysseus and his ten-year journey home after the Trojan War forms one of the earliest and greatest works of Western literature. Confronted by natural and supernatural threats – shipwrecks, battles, monsters and the implacable enmity of the sea-god Poseidon – Odysseus must use his wit and native cunning if he is to reach his homeland safely and overcome the obstacles that, even there, await him.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Slavery
Murder
Kidnapping & captivity
Shipwreck
Trojan War

A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong

A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong

May 20, 2019: Homicide detective Mallory is in Edinburgh to be with her dying grandmother. While out on a jog one evening, Mallory hears a woman in distress. She’s drawn to an alley, where she is attacked and loses consciousness.

May 20, 1869: Housemaid Catriona Mitchell had been enjoying a half-day off, only to be discovered that night in a lane, where she’d been strangled and left for dead . . . exactly one-hundred-and-fifty years before Mallory was strangled in the same spot… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Drug use
Murder & attempted murder
Stabbing
Strangulation

Three Hours In Paris by Cara Black

Three Hours In Paris by Cara Black

Kate Rees, a young American markswoman, has been recruited by British intelligence to drop into Paris with a dangerous assignment: assassinate the Führer. Wrecked by grief after a Luftwaffe bombing killed her husband and infant daughter, she is armed with a rifle, a vendetta, and a fierce resolve. But other than rushed and rudimentary instruction, she has no formal spy training. Thrust into the red-hot centre of the war, a country girl from rural Oregon finds herself holding the fate of the world in her hands… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Sexism
Blood depiction
Death of a child
Death of a partner
Torture
Gun violence

The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller

The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller

It’s 1875, and Alva Webster has perfected her stiff upper lip after three years of being pilloried in the presses of two continents over fleeing her abusive husband. Now his sudden death allows her to return to New York to make a fresh start, restoring Liefdehuis, a dilapidated Hyde Park mansion, and hopefully her reputation at the same time. However, fresh starts aren’t as easy as they seem, as Alva discovers when stories of a haunting at Liefdehuis begin to reach her. But Alva doesn’t believe in ghosts. So when the eccentric and brilliant professor, Samuel Moore, appears and informs her that he… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Adult-minor relationship
Forced child marriage
Physical & emotional abuse
Rape
Psychiatric hospitalisation of a child mentioned
Blackmail

Lovely War by Julie Berry

Lovely War by Julie Berry

It’s 1917, and World War I is at its zenith when Hazel and James first catch sight of each other at a London party. She’s a shy and talented pianist; he’s a newly minted soldier with dreams of becoming an architect. When they fall in love, it’s immediate and deep–and cut short when James is shipped off to the killing fields.

Aubrey Edwards is also headed toward the trenches. A gifted musician who’s played Carnegie Hall, he’s a member of the 15th New York Infantry, an all-African-American regiment… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Sexual assault
Racism
Hate crimes
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Gun violence
Lynching
War themes & battle scenes