Child Abuse & Neglect – Page 135 – Trigger Warning Database

After the Fire by Will Hill

After the Fire by Will Hill

Before, she lived inside the fence. Before, she was never allowed to leave the property, never allowed to talk to Outsiders, never allowed to speak her mind. Because Father John controlled everything—and Father John liked rules. Disobeying Father John came with terrible consequences.

But there are lies behind Father John’s words. Outside, there are different truths.

Then came the fire.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Slut shaming
Misogyny
Child abuse & psychological abuse
Suicide
Alcohol abuse
Drug abuse
Murder
Gun violence
Fire

The Accident Season by Moïra Fowley-Doyle

The Accident Season by Moïra Fowley-Doyle

It’s the accident season, the same time every year. Bones break, skin tears, bruises bloom. The accident season has been part of seventeen-year-old Cara’s life for as long as she can remember. Towards the end of October, foreshadowed by the deaths of many relatives before them, Cara’s family becomes inexplicably accident-prone. They banish knives to locked drawers, cover sharp table edges with padding, switch off electrical items – but injuries follow wherever they go, and the accident season becomes an ever-growing obsession and fear. But why are they so cursed? And how can they break free?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Ableism & ableist language
Paedophilia & child sexual abuse
Parental abandonment & neglect
Child abuse
Physical, emotional & verbal intimate partner abuse (on-page)
Depression (side character)
Trauma-related amnesia
Attempted suicide recounted
Self-harm
Graphic blood & injury depiction
Hospital
Grief & loss depiction
Death of an infant & father recounted
Murder and attempted murder recounted
Car accident
Fire

After the Eclipse by Fran Dorricott

After the Eclipse by Fran Dorricott

Two solar eclipses. Two missing girls.

Sixteen years ago a little girl was abducted during the darkness of a solar eclipse while her older sister Cassie was supposed to be watching her. She was never seen again. When a local girl goes missing just before the next big eclipse, Cassie – who has returned to her home town to care for her ailing grandmother – suspects the disappearance is connected to her sister: that whoever took Olive is still out there. But she needs to find a way to prove it, and time is running out.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Child sexual abuse
Suicide
Alcohol abuse
Drug abuse

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood

All the Ugly & Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood

As the daughter of a meth dealer, Wavy knows not to trust people, not even her own parents. Struggling to raise her little brother, eight-year-old Wavy is the only responsible “adult” around. She finds peace in the starry Midwestern night sky above the fields behind her house. One night everything changes when she witnesses one of her father’s thugs, Kellen, a tattooed ex-con with a heart of gold, wreck his motorcycle. What follows is a powerful and shocking story that asks tough questions, reminding us of all the ugly and wonderful things that life has to offer

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Adult-minor relationship*
Paedophilia & grooming
Statutory rape
Parental abuse
Substance addiction
Death of a grandmother
Motorcycle accident

*Note: The story centres a romanticised sexual relationship between a 13-year-old girl and a 24-year-old man.

All the Things We Do in the Dark by Saundra Mitchell

All the Things We Do in the Dark by Saundra Mitchell

Something happened to Ava. The curving scar on her face is proof. But Ava would rather keep that something hidden—buried deep in her heart and her soul.

She has her best friend Syd, and she has her tattoos—a colorful quilt, like a security blanket, over her whole body—and now, suddenly, she has Hailey. Beautiful, sweet Hailey, who seems to like Ava as much as she likes her. And Ava isn’t letting anything get in the way of finally, finally seeking peace. But in the woods on the outskirts of town, the traces of someone else’s secrets lie frozen, awaiting Ava’s discovery—and what Ava finds threatens to topple the carefully-constructed wall of normalcy that she’s spent years building… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Rape of a child recounted (theme)
PTSD & trauma
Victim blaming discussed
Minor gore depiction and dead body

Here Lie the Secrets by Emma Young

Here Lie the Secrets by Emma Young

Mia’s best friend Holly died when they were thirteen. But years later, Holly still hasn’t left her.

Spending the summer in New York, Mia is hoping to escape the visions of Holly that haunt her life at home. There she meets Rav, a parapsychology student, who convinces her to take part in a study into why some people see ghosts. Soon she is caught up in the investigation of Halcyon House, which is reputed to be haunted by a poltergeist. As Mia confronts her fears, what she learns about the house and herself will change her life forever.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Domestic abuse & violence
Child abuse
Alcoholism
Visual hallucinations
Grief depiction
Death of a friend recounted
Bullying mentioned

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A Brown

For Malik, the Solstasia festival is a chance to escape his war-stricken home and start a new life with his sisters in the prosperous desert city of Ziran. But when a vengeful spirit abducts Malik’s younger sister, Nadia, as payment into the city, Malik strikes a fatal deal—kill Karina, Crown Princess of Ziran, for Nadia’s freedom. But Karina has deadly aspirations of her own. Her mother, the Sultana, has been assassinated; her court threatens mutiny; and Solstasia looms like a knife over her neck. Grief-stricken, Karina decides to resurrect her mother through ancient magic . . . requiring the beating heart of a king. And she knows just how… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Racism & racial slurs
Emotional & physical child abuse
Infidelity mentioned
Anxiety & panic attack (on-page, protagonist)
Depersonalisation & derealization
Hallucinations
Self-harm & self-harm ideation
Alcohol consumption
Emesis
Blood depiction
Grief & loss depiction (theme)
Death of a father & sister recounted
Death of a mother (on-page)
Murder & attempted murder and regicide
Police brutality
Whipping mentioned
Knife violence & stabbing
Kidnapping & hostage situation
Fire recounted
Colonialism themes, including refugee experiences, riots & stampede
Animal cruelty & death, including animal sacrifice

All Eyes on Us by Kit Frick

All Eyes on Us by Kit Frick

The daughter of small town social climbers, Amanda Kelly is deeply invested in her boyfriend, real estate heir Carter Shaw. He’s kind, ambitious, the town golden boy—but he’s far from perfect. Because behind Amanda’s back, Carter is also dating Rosalie.

Rosalie Bell is fighting to remain true to herself and her girlfriend—while concealing her identity from her Christian fundamentalist parents. After years spent in and out of conversion “therapy,” her own safety is her top priority. But maintaining a fake, straight relationship is killing her from the inside… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Queermisia
Parental abuse
Emotional abuse & gaslighting
Conversion therapy
Religious bigotry (theme)
Cheating
Parental with alcoholism
Gun violence
Bullying

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

It’s 1843, and Grace Marks has been convicted for her involvement in the vicious murders of her employer and his housekeeper and mistress. Some believe Grace is innocent; others think her evil or insane. Now serving a life sentence, Grace claims to have no memory of the murders.

An up-and-coming expert in the burgeoning field of mental illness is engaged by a group of reformers and spiritualists who seek a pardon for Grace. He listens to her story while bringing her closer and closer to the day she cannot remember. What will he find in attempting to unlock her memories?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Fat shaming
Slut-shaming
Attempted rape
Domestic violence
Child abuse
Abortion and death due to a ‘backstreet’ abortion
Medical procedures
Death of a friend
Murder

King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender

King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender

Twelve-year-old Kingston James is sure his brother Khalid has turned into a dragonfly. When Khalid unexpectedly passed away, he shed what was his first skin for another to live down by the bayou in their small Louisiana town. Khalid still visits in dreams, and King must keep these secrets to himself as he watches grief transform his family. It would be easier if King could talk with his best friend, Sandy Sanders. But just days before he died, Khalid told King to end their friendship, after overhearing a secret about Sandy—that he thinks he might be gay. “You don’t want anyone to think you’re gay too, do you?” But when Sandy goes… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Homomisia, internalised homomisia & homomisic slurs (theme)
Racism & racial slurs
Hate crimes mentioned
Coming out themes
Child abuse
Domestic abuse mentioned
Parental abandonment
Recreational drug use mentioned
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a brother from a heart attack (theme)
Police brutality mentioned
Animal death, on-page