Ableism – Page 63 – Trigger Warning Database

Stay With Me by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀

Stay With Me by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀

Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo book cover

Yejide and Akin have been married since they met and fell in love at university. Though many expected Akin to take several wives, he and Yejide have always agreed: polygamy is not for them. But four years into their marriage–after consulting fertility doctors and healers, trying strange teas and unlikely cures–Yejide is still not pregnant. She assumes she still has time–until her family arrives on her doorstep with a young woman they introduce as Akin’s second wife. Furious, shocked, and livid with jealousy, Yejide knows the only way to save her marriage is to get pregnant, which, finally, she does–but at a cost far greater than she could have dared to imagine.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableist language
Cissexism
Rape mentioned
Pregnancy
Death by childbirth
Infertility themes
Terminal illness
Death of a child
Death of a parent
Murder
Police brutality

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn’t mind—she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers of a fire with her beloved siblings, listening to her nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, she loves the chilling story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon, who appears in the frigid night to claim unwary souls. Wise Russians fear him, her nurse says, and honor the spirits of house and yard and forest that protect their homes from evil.

After Vasilisa’s mother dies, her father goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife. Fiercely devout, city-bred, Vasilisa’s new stepmother forbids her family from honoring the household spirits. The family acquiesces, but Vasilisa is frightened, sensing that more hinges upon their rituals than anyone knows.

And indeed, crops begin to fail, evil creatures of the forest creep nearer, and misfortune stalks the village. All the while, Vasilisa’s stepmother grows ever harsher in her determination to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for either marriage or confinement in a convent.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Misogyny (theme)
Religious persecution (theme)
Ableism & ableist language
Rape (multiple, off-page), martial rape & sexual assault
Adult-minor relationship and forced arranged marriage
Physical child abuse
Suicide (self-sacrifice)
Pregnancy & death from childbirth
Abortion discussed
Alcohol consumption
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a wife & mother
Death of a father
Graphic animal death & hunting
War themes mentioned

The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf

The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf

Melati Ahmad looks like your typical moviegoing, Beatles-obsessed sixteen-year-old. Unlike most other sixteen-year-olds though, Mel also believes that she harbors a djinn inside her, one who threatens her with horrific images of her mother’s death unless she adheres to an elaborate ritual of counting and tapping to keep him satisfied.

But there are things that Melati can’t protect her mother from. On the evening of May 13th, 1969, racial tensions in her home city of Kuala Lumpur boil over. The Chinese and Malays are at war, and Mel and her mother become separated by a city in flames.

With a 24-hour curfew in place and all lines of communication down, it will take the help of a Chinese boy named Vincent and all of the courage and grit in Melati’s arsenal to overcome the violence on the streets, her own prejudices, and her djinn’s surging power to make it back to the one person she can’t risk losing.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism, internalised ableism & ableist language
Racism & race riots (theme)
Anxiety & panic attacks
OCD & intrusive thoughts (protagonist)
Hospital
Blood & gore depiction
Emesis
Death of a mother discussed
Murder & attempted murder
Knife violence
Fire & being burned alive
Hostage situation
Displacement & homelessness

The King’s Men by Nora Sakavic

The King’s Men by Nora Sakavic

Neil Josten is out of time. He knew when he came to PSU he wouldn’t survive the year, but with his death right around the corner he’s got more reasons than ever to live.

Befriending the Foxes was inadvisable. Kissing one is unthinkable. Neil should know better than to get involved with anyone this close to the end, but Andrew’s never been the easiest person to walk away from. If they both say it doesn’t mean anything, maybe Neil won’t regret losing it, but the one person Neil can’t lie to is himself.

He’s got promises to keep and a team to get to championships if he can just outrun Riko a little longer, but Riko’s not the only monster in Neil’s life. The truth might get them all killed—or be Neil’s one shot at getting out of this alive.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Homomisia
Ableism
Rape
Sexual assault
Child abuse
Physical & emotional abuse
Self-harm
Addiction
Alcohol & drug use, consensual and non-consensual
Graphic blood and gore depiction
Physical injuries
Knife violence
Bullying

The Raven King by Nora Sakavic

The Raven King by Nora Sakavic

The Foxes are a fractured mess, but their latest disaster might be the miracle they’ve always needed to come together as a team. The one person standing in their way is Andrew, and the only one who can break through his personal barriers is Neil.

Except Andrew doesn’t give up anything for free and Neil is terrible at trusting anyone but himself. The two don’t have much time to come to terms with their situation before outside forces start tearing them apart. Riko is intent on destroying Neil’s fragile new life, and the Foxes have just become collateral damage.

Neil’s days are numbered, but he’s learning the hard way to go down fighting for what he believes in, and Neil believes in Andrew even if Andrew won’t believe in himself.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Homomisia
Ableism
Rape
Sexual assault
Child abuse
Physical & emotional abuse
Self-harm
Addiction
Alcohol & drug use, consensual and non-consensual
Graphic blood and gore depiction
Physical injuries
Knife violence
Bullying

The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic

The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic

Neil Josten is the newest addition to the Palmetto State University Exy team. He’s short, he’s fast, he’s got a ton of potential—and he’s the runaway son of the murderous crime lord known as The Butcher.

Signing a contract with the PSU Foxes is the last thing a guy like Neil should do. The team is high profile and he doesn’t need sports crews broadcasting pictures of his face around the nation. His lies will hold up only so long under this kind of scrutiny and the truth will get him killed.

But Neil’s not the only one with secrets on the team. One of Neil’s new teammates is a friend from his old life, and Neil can’t walk away from him a second time. Neil has survived the last eight years by running. Maybe he’s finally found someone and something worth fighting for.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Homomisia
Ableism
Rape
Sexual assault
Child abuse
Physical & emotional abuse
Self-harm
Addiction
Alcohol & drug use, consensual and non-consensual
Graphic blood and gore depiction
Physical injuries
Knife violence
Bullying

Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno

Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno

Summer of Salt by Kartina Leno book cover

A magic passed down through generations . . . Georgina Fernweh waits with growing impatience for the tingle of magic in her fingers—magic that has been passed down through every woman in her family. Her twin sister, Mary, already shows an ability to defy gravity. But with their eighteenth birthday looming at the end of this summer, Georgina fears her gift will never come.

An island where strange things happen . . . No one on the island of By-the-Sea would ever call the Fernwehs what they really are, but if you need the odd bit of help—say, a sleeping aid concocted by moonlight—they are the ones to ask. No one questions the weather, as moody and erratic as a summer storm… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableist language
Slut-shaming
Victim-blaming
Rape, off-page
Alcohol consumption
Childbirth & pregnancy mentioned
Physical illness
Emesis
Hospitals
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a father
Attempted murder
Physical assault
Gun violence
Animal cruelty & death, off-page

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

The daughter of a union with an outsider that cast her once-proud family into disgrace, Immanuelle does her best to worship the Father, follow Holy Protocol and lead a life of submission, devotion and absolute conformity, like all the women in the settlement.

But a chance mishap lures her into the forbidden Darkwood that surrounds Bethel – a place where the first prophet once pursued and killed four powerful witches. Their spirits are still walking there, and they bestow a gift on Immanuelle: the diary of her dead mother, who Immanuelle is shocked to learn once sought sanctuary in the wood.

Fascinated by secrets in the diary, Immanuelle finds herself struggling to understand how her mother could have consorted with the witches. But when she begins to learn grim truths about the Church and its history, she realises the true threat to Bethel is its own darkness. And if Bethel is to change, it must begin with her . . .

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism & colourism
Misogyny
Slut-shaming
Ableist language
Persecution for witchcraft
Physical, verbal & emotional child abuse
Sexual assault
Rape & statutory rape recounted
Paedophilia & child molestation recounted
Forced nonconsensual marriage*
Exile & ex-communication
Alcohol consumption
Suicide recounted
Self-harm & self-inflicted injuries
Pregnancy & child pregnancy (secondary character)
Death from childbirth (two on-page scenes), and mentions of miscarriage & stillbirth
Graphic blood depiction & menstruation discussed
Plague (multiple)
Seizures & stroke (side character)
Nonconsensual branding
Emesis
Death of a mother & father recounted
Death of a son recounted
Death of a best friend (on-page)
Strangulation
Drowning
Being burned alive
Earthquake
Imprisonment & captivity
Murder & attempted murder
Knife violence & stabbing
Animal death & sacrifice

Note: This book portrays a cult which uses its beliefs to justify abuse, torture, misogyny, racism & paedophilia, including the marriage, rape (‘bedding’) & impregnation of multiple children (not graphic or on-page, but mentioned & discussed by secondary characters).

The Wicker King by K Ancrum

The Wicker King by K. Ancrum

When August learns that his best friend, Jack, shows signs of degenerative hallucinatory disorder, he is determined to help Jack cope. Jack’s vivid and long-term visions take the form of an elaborate fantasy world layered over our own—a world ruled by the Wicker King. As Jack leads them on a quest to fulfill a dark prophecy in this alternate world, even August begins to question what is real or not.

August and Jack struggle to keep afloat as they teeter between fantasy and their own emotions. In the end, each must choose his own truth.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableist language
Child abuse & neglect (theme)
Panic attacks & anxiety attacks
Depression & depressive episodes
Degenerative hallucinatory disorder, hallucinations & delusions
Trauma, codependency & separation anxiety
Suicidal ideation and self-harm
Alcohol consumption
Needles
Surgery
Forced psychiatric hospitalisation
Fire & pyromania
Drowning

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone. A convict with a thirst for revenge. A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager. A runaway with a privileged past. A spy known as the Wraith. A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums. A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Ableism & ableist language
Persecution for ‘witchcraft’ (theme)
Indentured servitude and slavery
Forced underaged sex work recounted
Child abuse recounted
Disownment
Substance and gambling addiction
Nightmares
Coerced suicide (implied)
Alcohol consumption, recreational drug use & non-consensual drugging including forced and coerced drug dependency
Blood, gore & injury depiction including dead bodies, emesis, medical experimentation, plague, eyeball trauma, and non-consensual body modifications
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a father & brother recounted
Death of a friend
Murder & attempted murder
Physical assault
Knife and gun violence
Torture
Strangulation
Explosions
Kidnapping and captivity
Incarceration
Drowning
Animal death
Animal attack & death by an animal attack
Bullying