Colourism – Page 4 – Trigger Warning Database

Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn

Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn

Yinka’s Nigerian aunties frequently pray for her delivery from singledom, her work friends think she’s too traditional (she’s saving herself for marriage!), her girlfriends think she needs to get over her ex already, and the men in her life…well, that’s a whole other story. But Yinka herself has always believed that true love will find her when the time is right. Still, when her cousin gets engaged, Yinka commences Operation Find-A-Date for Rachel’s Wedding. Aided by a spr… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Colourism
Death of a parent recounted, off-page

A Master of Djinn by P Djèlí Clark

A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha’arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she’s certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer.

So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case. Al-Jahiz transformed the world 50 years ago when… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Misogyny
Racism
Colourism
Colonialism
Disfigurmisia
Gambling addiction
Self-mutilation
Blood & gore depiction
Police brutality
Immolation

Hurricane Summer by Asha Bromfield

Hurricane Summer by Asha Bromfield

Tilla has spent her entire life trying to make her father love her. But every six months, he leaves their family and returns to his true home: the island of Jamaica. When Tilla’s mother tells her she’ll be spending the summer on the island, Tilla dreads the idea of seeing him again, but longs to discover what life in Jamaica has always held for him. In an unexpected turn of events, Tilla is forced to face the storm that unravels in her own life as she learns about the dark secrets that lie beyond the veil of paradise—all in the midst of an impending hurricane.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Sexism
Racism
Colourism
Slut shaming
Rape
Sexual assault
Domestic abuse

Room to Dream by Kelly Yang

Room to Dream by Kelly Yang

After years of hard work, Mia Tang finally gets to go on vacation with her family — to China! A total dream come true! Mia can’t wait to see all her cousins and grandparents again, especially her cousin Shen. As she roams around Beijing, witnessing some of the big changes China’s going through, Mia thinks about the changes in her own life, like . . . 1. Lupe’s taking classes at the high school! And Mia’s own plans to be a big writer are … Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism & colourism
Gentrification
Bullying

Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older

Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older

Sierra Santiago was looking forward to a fun summer of making art, hanging out with her friends, and skating around Brooklyn. But then a weird zombie guy crashes the first party of the season. Sierra’s near-comatose abuelo begins to say “Lo siento” over and over. And when the graffiti murals in Bed-Stuy start to weep…. Well, something stranger than the usual New York mayhem is going on.

Sierra soon discovers a supernatural order called the Shadowshapers, who connect with spirits via paintings, music, and stories. Her grandfather once shared the order’s secrets with an anthropologist, Dr. Jonathan Wick, who turned the Caribbean magic to his own foul ends. Now Wick wants to become the ultimate Shadowshaper… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism
Colourism
Sexism
Ableism
Sexual harassment
Stroke recounted
Dead bodies

The Princess Stakes by Amalie Howard

The Princess Stakes by Amalie Howard

Born to an Indian maharaja, Princess Sarani Rao has it all: beauty, riches, and a crown. But with a British mother, her mixed-blood makes her a pariah and a target. And when Sara’s father is murdered, her only hope of survival is to escape on the next ship out―captained by the boy she once loved…and spurned.

Captain Rhystan Huntley, the reluctant Duke of Embry, has a place in the English fleet, which he’s loathe to give up. But duty is calling him home, and this is his final voyage. Leave it to fate that the one woman he’s ever loved must escape India on his ship.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism
Colourism
Death of a parent
Death of a sibling recounted
Murder
Colonialism

Displacement by Kiku Hughes

Displacement by Kiku Hughes

Kiku is on vacation in San Francisco when suddenly she finds herself displaced to the 1940s Japanese-American internment camp that her late grandmother, Ernestina, was forcibly relocated to during World War II.

These displacements keep occurring until Kiku finds herself “”stuck”” back in time. Living alongside her young grandmother and other Japanese-American citizens in internment camps, Kiku gets the education she never received in history class. She witnesses the lives of Japanese-Americans who were denied their civil liberties and suffered greatly, but managed to cultivate community and commit acts of resistance in order to survive.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism & racial slurs
Colourism
Sexism
Hate crimes
Cancer
Death
Grief depiction
Confinement
Imprisonment
War themes, specifically WW2 & Japanese internment camp

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Fair and long-legged, independent and articulate, Janie Crawford sets out to be her own person — no mean feat for a black woman in the ’30s. Janie’s quest for identity takes her through three marriages and into a journey back to her roots.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Racism & colourism
Slavery mentioned
Rape
Domestic abuse & violence
Rabies
Death of a husband
Gun violence
Hurricane

The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang

The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang

When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising. But… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Classism
Racism & colourism
Gang rape
Sexual assault
Forced marriage
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Sterilization
Medical experimentation
Dead bodies
Decapitation and dismemberment
Graphic murder & mass murder
Torture
Explosions
Knife violence
Physical assault
Captivity & confinement
War themes & military violence
Fire
Flooding
Bullying

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it’s not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it’s everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Ten years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters’ story lines intersect? … Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Transmisia
Racism & racial slurs
Colourism
Sexual assault
Child abuse
Domestic violence
Alzheimer’s Disease
Death of a parent
Lynching