Tag Archives: Domestic Abuse & Violence

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of abusive relationships, and domestic and intimate partner abuse & violence. This includes all kinds of emotional, verbal, psychological, and physical abuse perpetrated by a spouse or intimate partner.

See also Child abuse & neglect, Rape, and Sexual assault.

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

A modern masterpiece from one of Italy’s most acclaimed authors, My Brilliant Friend is a rich, intense and generous-hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila. Ferrante’s inimitable style lends itself perfectly to a meticulous portrait of these two women that is also the story of a nation and a touching meditation on the nature of friendship. Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighbourhood, a city and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between her two protagonists. 

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Domestic violence
  • Blood depiction
  • Murder

Heroes Are My Weakness by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Heroes Are My Weakness by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

The dead of winter. An isolated island off the coast of Maine. A man. A woman. A sinister house looming over the sea. He’s a reclusive writer whose macabre imagination creates chilling horror novels. She’s a down-on-her-luck actress reduced to staging kids’ puppet shows. He knows a dozen ways to kill with his bare hands. She knows a dozen ways to kill with laughs. But she’s not laughing now. When she was a teenager, he terrified her. Now they’re trapped together on a snowy island off the coast of Maine… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Domestic violence
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Fire

Knee Deep by Jolene Perry

Knee Deep by Jolene Perry

Shawn is the guy Ronnie Bird promised her life to at the age of fourteen. He’s her soul mate. He’s more uptight every day, but it’s not his fault. His family life is stressful, and she’s adding to it. She just needs to be more understanding, and he’ll start to be the boy she fell in love with. She won’t give up on someone she’s loved for so long. Luke is her best friend, and the guy she hangs with to watch movies in her large blanketopias. He’s the guy she can confide in before she even goes to her girlfriends, and the guy who she’s playing opposite in Romeo and Juliet. Now her chest flutters every time he gets too close, but… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Abusive relationship (theme)
  • Intimate partner abuse & violence

Aurora Blazing by Jessie Mihalik

Aurora Blazing by Jessie Mihalik

Bianca von Hasenberg did her duty for High House von Hasenberg and ended up trapped in a terrible marriage. When her husband dies unexpectedly and leaves her a happy widow, she vows never to marry again. Instead, she uses her connections to save other young women. Information is power and Bianca has a network that would be the envy of the ’verse—if anyone knew about it. After an attack, Bianca’s oldest brother, the House von Hasenberg heir, disappears from Earth without a trace. Determined to find him, Bianca leaves against orders. When she refuses to return… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Domestic abuse & violence recounted
  • Restrictive eating
  • Miscarriage mentioned
  • Medical experimentation
  • Torture, off-page

Lila by Naima Coster

Lila by Naima Coster

When Naima Coster met Lila, they were girls of color in a predominantly white private school in Manhattan. As adolescents they found each other and needed each other. As each comes of age, and new bonds pull them apart, the friendship splinters. What happens when Naima and Lila turn to one another again—this time as women? And what will it take to recapture the connection that once meant the world to them?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slut-shaming
  • Domestic violence
  • Child abuse
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Jade City by Fonda Lee

Jade City by Fonda Lee

The Kaul family is one of two crime syndicates that control the island of Kekon. It’s the only place in the world that produces rare magical jade, which grants those with the right training and heritage superhuman abilities. The Green Bone clans of honorable jade-wearing warriors once protected the island from foreign invasion–but nowadays, in a bustling post-war metropolis full of fast cars and foreign money, Green Bone families like the Kauls are primarily involved in commerce, construction, and the everyday upkeep of the districts under their protection… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault of a minor
  • Cheating
  • Domestic abuse
  • Addiction
  • Dementia
  • Suicide, off-page
  • Self harm, off-page
  • Drug use & abuse
  • Overdose
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Gun violence
  • Animal cruelty

The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell

The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell

Marnie and her little sister Nelly have always been different. Marnie leads a life of smoking, drinking and drugs; Nelly enjoys playing the violin, eating cornflakes with Coke and reading Harry Potter. But on Christmas Eve, the sisters have to join forces and put their differences aside. And when Lennie, the old guy next door, starts to get suspicious, it’s only a matter of time before their terrible secret is discovered.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape, implied
  • Domestic violence
  • Alcoholism
  • Drug abuse

Death Knocks Twice by Robert Thorogood

Death Knocks Twice by Robert Thorogood

Reluctantly stationed on the sweltering Caribbean island of Saint-Marie, Detective Inspector Richard Poole dreams of cold winds, drizzly rain and a pint in his local pub. Just as he is feeling as fed up as can be, a mysterious vagrant is found dead in the grounds of the historic Beaumont plantation. Immediately assumed to be suicide, DI Poole is not so convinced and determined to prove otherwise. Never mind that the only fingerprints on the murder weapon belong to the victim. Or that the room was locked from the inside. Before long, death knocks twice and a second… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery mentioned
  • Domestic violence
  • Child abuse
  • Suicide
  • Colonialism mentioned

Me by Elton John

Me: Elton John Official Autobiography by John Elton

Christened Reginald Dwight, he was a shy boy with Buddy Holly glasses who grew up in the London suburb of Pinner and dreamed of becoming a pop star. By the age of twenty-three, he was on his first tour of America, facing an astonished audience in his tight silver hotpants, bare legs, and a T-shirt with ROCK AND ROLL emblazoned across it in sequins. Elton John had arrived and the music world would never be the same again. His life has been full of drama, from the early rejection of his work with songwriting partner Bernie Taupin to spinning out of control as a chart-topping superstar; from half-heartedly trying to drown him… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Cheating
  • Domestic violence
  • Attempted suicide
  • Disordered eating
  • Alcoholism
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Substance addiction
  • Drug use & abuse
  • AIDS/HIV epidemic
  • Prostate cancer

Damaged Goods by Talia Hibbert

Laura Burne‘s husband is a monster, her diamond ring is a trap, and her pregnancy is the push she needs to finally escape. She runs away seeking safety… and finds Samir Bianchi, her long-lost teenage sweetheart. With his kind eyes and dirty smile, Samir’s still hot as hell—and he still treats Laura like a goddess, baby bump and all. The wild boy she spent one magical summer with is every inch a man, and he’s more than ready to care for her tiny family. But Laura’s been keeping a secret Samir might never forgive. When she finally confesses, will he remain by her side? Or is this fairytale end… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Fatmisia
  • Emotional abuse & gaslighting
  • Intimate partner abuse & violence
  • Child & parental abuse recounted
  • Cheating
  • Alcoholism mentioned
  • Pregnancy, including doctors visits & sonograms
  • Childbirth
  • Emesis mentioned
  • Death of a father mentioned