Disability Lit – Page 17 – Trigger Warning Database

Bio-Mechanical by EM Lindsey

Bio-Mechanical by E.M. Lindsey

Having grown up the son of a Southern Baptist preacher, James Gossett was expected to be one thing, and one thing only—a God-fearing, straight, Christian man. It didn’t help that from a young age, James knew he was different. He hid the truth about who he was from himself, and from his family, until a freak accident during a routine simulation right after basic training cost him both legs, and nearly his life. Knowing what he almost lost, James decided to come out—and with that, lost the rest of the blood kin he had left ali…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Ableism
Religious homomisia
Sexual assault
Familial estrangement
Parental abandonment
Child abuse & neglect recounted
Anxiety & panic attacks
Alcohol consumption
Teen pregnancy from rape mentioned
Amputation & loss of limb
Parent with Multiple Sclerosis
Death of a mother from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Alone with You in the Ether by Olivie Blake

Alone with You in the Ether by Olivie Blake

Two people meet in the Art Institute by chance. Prior to their encounter, he is a doctoral student who manages his destructive thoughts with compulsive calculations about time travel; she is a bipolar counterfeit artist, undergoing court-ordered psychotherapy. By the end of the story, these things will still be true. But this is not a story about endings. For Regan, people are predictable and tedious, including and perhaps especially herself. She copes with the dreariness of existence by living impulsively, imagining a new, alternate timeline being created in the wake of every rash decision… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Bipolar Disorder
Substance addiction
Drug use & abuse
Overdose recounted

The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld

The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld

Three years ago, Madison Culver disappeared when her family was choosing a Christmas tree in Oregon’s Skookum National Forest. She would be eight years old now—if she has survived. Desperate to find their beloved daughter, certain someone took her, the Culvers turn to Naomi, a private investigator with an uncanny talent for locating the lost and missing. Known to the police and a select group of parents as “the Child Finder,” Naomi is their last hope. Naomi’s methodical search takes her deep into the icy, mysterious forest in the Pacific Northwest, and into her own fragmented past. She understands children like… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Antiziganism (g slur)
Incest (foster siblings)
Paedophilia, child sexual assault and rape (theme)
Child abuse and neglect
Foster care system experiences recounted
Amnesia and memory loss
Dissociation
Blood and gore depiction
Physical injuries mentioned, including the loss of an arm in an explosion while deployed
Death of a foster mother, off-page and discussed
Death of a wife from cancer mentioned
Death of a wife from suicide mentioned
Accidental infanticide
Murder by stabbing, on-page
Physical assault
Kidnapping and captivity of a child
Incarceration
Graphic animal death and hunting
Animal dead bodies and butchery, on-page

Context : The story follows a private investigator trying to find a missing child. The book is told from her POV, the missing child, and the predator who kidnapped and held the child captive. While there are no on-page scenes of sexual violence, it is clear that the captor sexually abuses and rapes the child. It is vaguely mentioned through metaphors and lyrical writing from the child’s perspective; as well as mentions of pain and blood on her legs. The predator was also raped by his captor as a child. Again, there are no on-page scenes of this.

A secondary character leaves her baby in their stroller on a bus that is parked in storage. It is unclear how the baby dies but the protagonist finds his body (off-page, no descriptions).

100 Days of Cake by Shari Goldhagen

100 Days of Cake by Shari Goldhagen

There are only three things that can get seventeen-year-old Molly Byrne out of bed these days: her job at FishTopia, the promise of endless episodes of Golden Girls, and some delicious lo mien. You see, for the past two years, Molly’s been struggling with something more than your usual teenage angst. Her shrink, Dr Brooks isn’t helping much, and neither is her mom who is convinced that baking the perfect cake will cure Molly of her depression—as if cake can magically make her rejoin the swim team, get along with her promiscuous sister, or care about the SATs… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Depression

Because of You by Pip Harry

Because of You by Pip Harry

Tiny is homeless. Nola has everything she could ask for. They meet when Nola is forced into volunteer work for the writers’ group at the homeless shelter where Tiny is staying, and at first, it seems impossible that two people who are so different could ever be friends. But despite her initial prejudice, Nola quickly learns that there isn’t much separating her from the people who live on the streets. And Tiny begins to see that falling down doesn’t mean you never get back up. Because of You is a story about homelessness, prejudice and the power of words to provide a little hope… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia
Post-natal depression
Substance addiction
Suicidal ideation
Drug abuse
Death of a friend
Homelessness

The Little Wave by Pip Harry

The Little Wave by Pip Harry

When a Manly school sets out to bring a country class to the city for a beach visit, three very different kids find each other and themselves. Noah is fearless in the surf. Being at the beach makes him feel free. So where does his courage go when his best mate pushes him around? Lottie loves collecting facts about bugs, but she wishes her dad would stop filling their lonely house with junk. She doesn’t know what to do about it. Jack wants to be a cricket star, but first he has to get to school and look after his little sister. Especially if he wants to go on the class trip and see the ocean for the first time.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Parent with Hoarding Disorder
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a mother & wife recounted
Near-drowning recounted

The Chandler Legacies by Abdi Nazemian

The Chandler Legacies by Abdi Nazemian

Beth Kramer is a “townie” who returns to her sophomore year after having endured a year of judgment from her roommate, Sarah. But Sarah Brunson knows there’s more to that story. Amanda Priya “Spence” Spencer is the privileged daughter of NYC elites, who is reeling from the realization that her family name shielded her from the same fate as Sarah. Ramin Golafshar arrives at Chandler as a transfer student to escape the dangers of being gay in Iran, only to suffer brutal hazing under the guise of tradition in the boys’ dorms. And Freddy Bello is the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Homomisia
Adult-minor relationship
Paedophilia & child sexual abuse
Sexual assault
Trichotillomania
Self-harm
Bullying & hazing

A List of Cages by Robin Roe

A List of Cages by Robin Roe

When Adam Blake lands the best elective ever in his senior year, serving as an aide to the school psychologist, he thinks he’s got it made. Sure, it means a lot of sitting around, which isn’t easy for a guy with ADHD, but he can’t complain, since he gets to spend the period texting all his friends. Then the doctor asks him to track down the troubled freshman who keeps dodging her, and Adam discovers that the boy is Julian—the foster brother he hasn’t seen in five… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Ableism
Misogyny
Child abuse, on-page
Disordered eating
Alcohol consumption
Starvation
Hospital
Bullying
Death of a parent

Together We Will Go by J Michael Straczynski

Together We Will Go by J. Michael Straczynski

Mark Antonelli, a failed young writer looking down the barrel at thirty, is planning a cross-country road trip. He buys a beat-up old tour bus. He hires a young army vet to drive it. He puts out an ad for others to join him along the way. But this will be a road trip like no other: His passengers are all fellow disheartened souls who have decided that this will be their final journey—upon arrival in San Francisco, they will find a cliff with an amazing view of the ocean at sunset, hit the gas, and drive out of this world. The unlikely companions… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Fatmisia
Rape
Suicide
Drug use

Bad Best Friend by Rachel Vail

Bad Best Friend by Rachel Vail

Niki Ames can’t wait to start eighth grade, that all-important year before high school. She and her best friend Ava have shared so many plans for the coming year. But then the unthinkable happens: at gym class pair-up, Ava chooses someone else to be her partner. Niki is devastated. It’s clear that Ava wants to be part of the popular group, leaving Niki behind. Niki has to decide who her real friends should be, where her real interests lie. Meanwhile, life at home is complicated. Niki’s nine-year-old brother Danny continues to act out more and more publicly. Their mother refuses to admit that Danny is somewhere on the autism… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Sexual assault discussed