Death of a Parent & Guardian – Page 187

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.

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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

A Land of Permanent Goodbyes by Atia Abwai

A Land of Permanent Goodbyes by Atia Abwai

In a country ripped apart by war, Tareq lives with his big and loving family . . . until the bombs strike. His city is in ruins. His life is destroyed. And those who have survived are left to figure out their uncertain future.

In the wake of destruction, he’s threatened by Daesh fighters and witnesses a public beheading. Tareq’s family knows that to continue to stay alive, they must leave. As they travel as refugees from Syria to Turkey to Greece, facing danger at every turn, Tareq must find the resilience and courage to complete his harrowing journey.

But while this is one family’s story, it is also the timeless tale of all wars, of all tragedy, and of all strife. When you are a refugee, success is outliving your loss.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

Rape (mentioned)
Grief depiction and death of a parent, child and sibling
Murder and bombings
Drowning
War themes

The Project by Courtney Summers

The Project by Courtney Summers

Lo Denham is used to being on her own. After her parents died, Lo’s sister, Bea, joined The Unity Project, leaving Lo in the care of their great aunt. Thanks to its extensive charitable work and community outreach, The Unity Project has won the hearts and minds of most in the Upstate New York region, but Lo knows there’s more to the group than meets the eye. She’s spent the last six years of her life trying—and failing—to prove it.

When a man shows up at the magazine Lo works for claiming The Unity Project killed his son, Lo sees the perfect opportunity to expose the group and reunite with Bea once and for all. When her investigation puts her in the direct path of its leader, Lev Warren and as Lo delves deeper into The Project… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

Abandonment
Disfigurmisia
Child abuse & neglect recounted
Emotional abuse & gaslighting
Cheating
Trauma & panic attacks
Nightmares
Hallucinations mentioned
Suicide by train, on-page
Suicidal ideation mentioned
Pregnancy & pregnancy complications, on-page
Traumatic premature childbirth, on-page
Blood depiction
Physical injuries including graphic burns, comas, broken bones and facial scars
Hospitalisation
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a mother & father in a car accident, off-page
Death of a guardian mentioned
Death of a sister by drowning, off-page
Death of a mother in a fire mentioned
Death of a son discussed
Murder
Torture, on-page
Disappearance of a sibling
Car accident, on- & off-page
Blackmail mentioned
Cults (theme)
Homelessness mentioned
Mentions of stalking & harassment

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.

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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 Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh

The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh

In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans provides her a refuge after she’s forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent along with six other girls, Celine quickly becomes enamored with the vibrant city from the music to the food to the soirées and—especially—to the danger. She soon becomes embroiled in the city’s glitzy underworld, known as La Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group’s leader, the enigmatic Sébastien Saint Germain. When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in the lair of La Cour des Lions, Celine battles her attraction to him and suspicions about Sébastien’s guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

Misogyny
Sex worker slurs
Racism & racial slurs
Colourism
Segregation discussed
Attempted rape recounted (theme)
Nightmares & flashbacks
Alcohol consumption
Recreational drug use
Blood & gore depiction
Emesis
Death of a friend
Death of a sister recounted
Death of a mother & father recounted
Murder
Torture recounted
Gun violence

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

It’s been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty’s life out from under her.

It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don’t dare wander outside the school’s fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

Parental abandonment
Suicide, on-page
Suicidal ideation
Self-harm
Blood & gore depiction
Body horror (theme)
Human experimentation
Physical injuries, including loss of limb & eyeball trauma
Needles
Hospital
Emesis
Nonconensualmedical treatment
Starvation
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a child
Death of a father
Death of a friend
Murder & attempted mass murder
Gun violence
Knife violence & stabbing
Hanging
Bombing mentioned
Kidnapping & captivity
Disappearance of a loved one
Chemical gassing
Animal death & dead bodies
Animal illness
Animal hunting
Death by an animal attack

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.

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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 . . .

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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).

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

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls. But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope. Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Fatmisia & body shaming
Racism & racial slurs
Slavery
Attempted rape
Threats of rape
Child abuse
Domestic violence
Self-harm
Death of a parent recounted
Death of a friend
Torture
Kidnapping
War themes