Historical Fiction – Page 56 – Trigger Warning Database

Reaper of Souls by Jordan Hawk

Reaper of Souls by Jordan L. Hawk

When an incubus murders the powerful ally of an anti-paranormal senator, it’s up to hotshot Federal exorcist John Starkweather to catch the demon before it can kill again. Fortunately, he has backup, in the form of his boyfriend Caleb, a telekinetic possessed by the vampire spirit Gray.

As the political pressure mounts and bodies pile up, John discovers an old enemy protecting the incubus: the Fist of God, a group that believes all paranormals are evil. But why would the Fist work with a demon? And why would they let it kill one of their own allies?

John and Caleb need to find out fast. Because the incubus lurks at the intersection of love and longing, and it’s willing to turn their deepest desires against them.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Attempted suicide mentioned

Threshold by Jordan Hawk

Threshold by Jordan L. Hawk

Introverted scholar Percival Endicott Whyborne wants nothing more than a quiet life with his lover, private detective Griffin Flaherty. Unfortunately, Whyborne’s railroad tycoon father has other ideas: namely hiring Griffin to investigate mysterious events at a coal mine.

Whyborne, Griffin, and their friend Christine travel to Threshold Mountain, a place of dark legend long before the mine burrowed into its heart. A contingent of Pinkertons—including Griffin’s ex-lover Elliot—already guard the mine. But Griffin knows better than anyone just how unprepared the detectives are to face the otherworldly forces threatening them… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism
Night terrors
Emesis
Death of an infant mentioned
Explosion
Fire
Gun violence
Sword violence

Master of Ghouls by Jordan Hawk

Master of Ghouls by Jordan L. Hawk

Caleb Jansen’s old life is in ruins after being possessed by the vampire spirit Gray. Now all Caleb wants is for Gray to be exorcised so he can adjust to living as a registered paranormal. Instead, District Chief Kaniyar of SPECTR offers him a new choice: be locked away for public safety, or come work for the very agency he’s spent years trying to avoid. The only good thing to come from Caleb’s possession is his relationship with federal exorcist John Starkweather, but even that seems doomed to end before it can really begin.

John’s newest case is a nightmare: someone is summoning demons and forcing them to possess women and boys snatched from the streets of Charleston. If his team can’t find the summoner soon enough, the possessions will… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Attempted suicide recounted

Widdershins by Jordan Hawk

Widdershins by Jordan L. Hawk

Love is dangerous. Ever since the tragic death of the friend he adored, Percival Endicott Whyborne has ruthlessly suppressed any desire for another man. Instead, he spends his days studying dead languages at the museum where he works. So when handsome ex-Pinkerton Griffin Flaherty approaches him to translate a mysterious book, Whyborne wants to finish the job and get rid of the detective as quickly as possible.

Griffin left the Pinkertons after the death of his partner. Now in business for himself, he must investigate the murder of a wealthy young man. His only clue: an encrypted book that once belonged to the victim… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Blood & physical injury depiction
Misogyny
Institutionalisation mentioned
Gun violence
Explosion
Fire
Drowning
Shipwreck recounted
Blackmail mentioned

The Righteous by Renée Ahdieh

The Righteous by Renée Ahdieh

The Court of the Lions have done everything they can to save her but have failed. A healer from the Sylvan Vale could help her, but only Arjun Desai, as a half fey, can cross the boundary between realms. The Sylvan Vale is a world Arjun despises, and in return, it despises him. But knowing it could save Odette, he returns to the Vale with all haste, leaving the mirrored tare between the two worlds open and unwittingly setting the stage for both love and war.

It’s mere days until Pippa Montrose is to wed Phoebus Devereux and become a member of his well-heeled family, offering salvation to her own. But Celine is missing. Pippa has no idea where her best friend has gone, but she’s certain it’s in the company of vampire Sébastien… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Domestic abuse recounted
Child abuse recounted
War themes

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

Set on the Korean island of Jeju, The Island of Sea Women follows Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls from very different backgrounds, as they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective. Over many decades—through the Japanese colonialism of the 1930s and 1940s, World War II, the Korean War, and the era of cellphones and wet suits for the women divers—Mi-ja and Young-sook develop the closest of bonds. Nevertheless, their differences are impossible to ignore: Mi-ja is the daughter of a Japanese collaborator, forever marking her, and Young-sook was born into a long line of haenyeo and will inherit her mother’s position leading the divers… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

Sexual assault
Domestic abuse
Breast mutilation
Jeju April 3 incident

Waiting by Ha Jin

Waiting by Ha Jin

This is the story of Lin Kong, a man living in two worlds, struggling with the conflicting claims of two utterly different women as he moves through the political minefields of a society designed to regulate his every move and stifle the promptings of his innermost heart.

For more than seventeen years, this devoted and ambitious doctor has been in love with an educated, clever, modern woman, Manna Wu. But back in the traditional world of his home village lives the wife his family chose for him when he was young–a humble and touchingly loyal woman, whom he visits in order to ask, again and again, for a divorce. In a culture in which the ancient ties of tradition… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Rape, on-page

Finding Junie Kim by Ellen Oh

Finding Junie Kim by Ellen Oh

Junie Kim just wants to fit in. So she keeps her head down and tries not to draw attention to herself. But when racist graffiti appears at her middle school, Junie must decide between staying silent or speaking out.

Then Junie’s history teacher assigns a project and Junie decides to interview her grandparents, learning about their unbelievable experiences as kids during the Korean War. Junie comes to admire her grandma’s fierce determination to overcome impossible odds, and her grandpa’s unwavering compassion during wartime. And as racism becomes more pervasive at school, Junie taps into the strength of her ancestors and finds the courage to do what is right.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Depression
Suicide
War themes
Bullying

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger

New Bremen, Minnesota, 1961. The Twins were playing their debut season, ice-cold root beers were selling out at the soda counter of Halderson’s Drugstore, and Hot Stuff comic books were a mainstay on every barbershop magazine rack. It was a time of innocence and hope for a country with a new, young president. But for thirteen-year-old Frank Drum it was a grim summer in which death visited frequently and assumed many forms. Accident. Nature. Suicide. Murder.

Frank begins the season preoccupied with the concerns of any teenage boy, but when tragedy unexpectedly strikes his family— which includes his Methodist minister father; his passionate, artistic mother; Juilliard-bound older sister; and wise-beyond-his-years kid brother— he finds himself thrust into an adult world full of secrets, lies, adultery, and betrayal, suddenly called upon to demonstrate a maturity and gumption beyond his years.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Queermisic slurs
Attempted suicide
Abortion mentioned
Death of a child
Murder

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

It is 1922, and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned, the out-of-work and the hungry are demanding change. And in South London, in a genteel Camberwell villa, a large silent house now bereft of brothers, husband and even servants, life is about to be transformed, as impoverished widow Mrs Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers.

For with the arrival of Lilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the ‘clerk class’, the routines of the house will be shaken up in unexpected ways. And as passions mount and frustration gathers, no one can foresee just how far-reaching, and how devastating, the disturbances will be.

.Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Queermisia
Abortion
Miscarriage