Tag Archives: Death of a Child

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of death of a child.

See also Grief & loss depiction.

Circe by Madeline Miller

Circe by Madeline Miller

In the house of Helios, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power – the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.

Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus. But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Rape (on-page)
  • Rape by coercion recounted & discussed
  • Incest mentioned
  • Emotional, verbal & physical abuse
  • Cheating
  • Arranged & forced marriage
  • Nightmares
  • Suicide & suicidal ideation
  • Self-harm
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Nonconsensual drugging
  • Graphic caesarean childbirth (on-page)
  • Pregnancy
  • Blood & physical injury depiction
  • Dead bodies
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a sibling
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a father
  • Death of a husband
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Death from a fall
  • Death by drowning mentioned
  • Animal death (on-page)
  • Bestiality mentioned & recounted
  • Bullying
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11/22/63 by Stephen King

11/22/63 by Stephen King

Jake Epping is a thirty-five-year-old English teacher in Maine. He receives an essay from one of the students—a gruesome, harrowing first person story about the night 50 years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a hammer. Harry escaped with a smashed leg, as evidenced by his crooked walk.

Not much later, Jake’s friend Al, who runs the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to 1958. He enlists Jake on an insane mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination. So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson and his new world of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald—a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Misogyny
  • Slut shaming
  • Racism
  • Child abuse
  • Domestic abuse
  • Alcoholism & alcohol abuse
  • Disfigurmisia
  • Terminal cancer
  • Hospital
  • Emesis
  • Blood depiction
  • Graphic physical injuries & illness
  • Death of a child
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Knife violence
  • Car accident
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City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

What price is too high to pay, even for love? When Jace and Clary meet again, Clary is horrified to discover that the demon Lilith’s magic has bound her beloved Jace together with her evil brother Sebastian, and that Jace has become a servant of evil. The Clave is out to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other.

As Alec, Magnus, Simon, and Isabelle wheedle and bargain with Seelies, demons, and the merciless Iron Sisters to try to save Jace, Clary plays a dangerous game of her own. The price of losing is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she still trust him? Or is he truly lost?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Homomisia & queermisia
  • Slut shaming
  • Hate crimes
  • Attempted rape & sexual assault
  • Incest
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Intimate partner violence recounted
  • Disownment
  • Hallucinations
  • Nightmares
  • Self-inflicted injuries
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use
  • Blood & gore depiction, including blood-drinking
  • Physical injuries
  • Dead bodies
  • Medical experimentation
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a brother & sister
  • Death of a mother & father
  • Death of a boyfriend
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Torture
  • Gun violence
  • Poisoning
  • Fire
  • Whipping
  • Disappearance of a loved one
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City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

The Mortal War is over, and sixteen-year-old Clary Fray is back home in New York, excited about all the possibilities before her. She’s training to become a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love of her life. Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last. And—most importantly of all—she can finally call Jace her boyfriend.

But nothing comes without a price… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Hate crimes
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Intimate partner violence recounted
  • Disownment
  • Substance addiction mentioned
  • Nightmares
  • Nonconsensual drugging
  • Infertility themes
  • Blood & gore depiction, including blood-drinking
  • Physical injuries
  • Dead bodies
  • Medical experimentation
  • Comas
  • Emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a brother
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Gun violence
  • Explosion
  • War themes & battle scenes
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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, everybody is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life. Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath just can’t let go. Now that they’re in college, Cath must decide if she’s ready to start living her own life. But does she even want to if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Cath doesn’t need friends IRL. She has her twin sister, Wren, and she’s a popular fanfic writer in the Simon Snow community with thousands of fans online.  But now that she’s in college, Cath is completely outside of her comfort zone. There are suddenly all these new people in her life. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming boyfriend, a writing professor who thinks fanfiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome new writing partner … And she’s barely heard from Wren all semester!

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Antisemitism
  • Starvation
  • Death of a child
  • Murder & mass murder
  • Chemical gassing
  • Concentration camp (setting)
  • The Holocaust & World War Two
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Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

It’s been three years since the devastating accident… three years since Mia walked out of Adam’s life forever.

Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Juilliard’s rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia’s home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future – and each other.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use (smoking)
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a child recounted
  • Death of a brother recounted
  • Death of a mother & father recounted
  • Car accident recounted
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If I Stay by Gayle Forman

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

On a day that started like any other…

Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, adoring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. Then, in an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the one decision she has left—the most important decision she’ll ever make.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Dissociation
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Hospital (setting)
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a brother
  • Death of a mother & father
  • Car accident
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Blood and Honey by Shelby Mahurin

Blood & Honey by Shelby Mahurin

After narrowly escaping death at the hands of the Dames Blanches, Lou, Reid, Coco, and Ansel are on the run from coven, kingdom, and church—fugitives with nowhere to hide.

To elude the scores of witches and throngs of chasseurs at their heels, Lou and Reid need allies. Strong ones. But protection comes at a price, and the group is forced to embark on separate quests to build their forces. As Lou and Reid try to close the widening rift between them, the dastardly Morgane baits them in a lethal game of cat and mouse that threatens to destroy something worth more than any coven.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Nonconsensual drugging
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a sibling
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Torture
  • Kidnapping
  • Animal attack
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Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

On a remote jungle island, genetic engineers have created a dinosaur game park.

An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now one of mankind’s most thrilling fantasies has come true and the first dinosaurs that the Earth has seen in the time of man emerge.

But, as always, there is a dark side to the fantasy and after a catastrophe destroys the park’s defense systems, the scientists and tourists are left fighting for survival… 

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Graphic blood & gore depiction
  • Death of an infant
  • Animal death
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City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

To save her mother’s life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters – never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia
  • Hate crimes
  • Incest
  • Sexual assault
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Intimate partner violence recounted
  • Hallucinations
  • Graphic suicide & self-inflicted injuries recounted
  • Pregnancy & childbirth mentioned
  • Blood & gore depiction, including blood-drinking
  • Physical injuries
  • Dead bodies
  • Medical experimentation
  • Needles & syringes
  • Forced starvation
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a brother
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Torture
  • Explosion
  • Poisoning
  • Kidnapping
  • Imprisonment
  • Fire
  • Drowning
  • War themes & battle scenes
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