Tag Archives: Eating Disorders

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia and AFRID; as well as all warnings related to disordered weight & body thoughts.

For body image issues, see Fatphobia & body shaming, Emesis, and Weight loss & gain. See Institutionalisation for psychiatric hospitalisation and treatment centres. Suicide, Self-harm, and Medical treatment may be relevant. See also Anxiety, OCD, and PTSD & trauma.

Genesis by Karin Slaughter

Genesis by Karin Slaughter

Also known as Undone.

Three and a half years ago former Grant County medical examiner Sara Linton moved to Atlanta hoping to leave her tragic past behind her. Now working as a doctor in Atlanta’s Grady Hospital she is starting to piece her life together. But when a severely wounded young woman is brought in to the emergency room, she finds herself drawn back into a world of violence and terror.

The woman has been hit by a car but, naked and brutalized, it’s clear that she has been the prey of a twisted mind. When Special Agent Will Trent of the Criminal Investigation Team returns to the scene of the accident… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Rape
Child abuse & neglect
Physical abuse
Eating disorders
Self harm recounted
Suicide
Physical injuries
Eyeball trauma
Murder
Kidnapping

Bright Burning Stars by AK Small

Bright Burning Stars by A.K. Small

Best friends Marine Duval and Kate Sanders have trained at the Paris Opera Ballet School since childhood, where they’ve formed an inseparable bond forged by respective family tragedies and a fierce love for dance. When the body of a student is found in the dorms just before the start of their final year, Marine and Kate begin to ask themselves what they would do to win the ultimate prize: to be the one girl selected to join the Opera’s prestigious corps de ballet. Would they die? Cheat? Seduce the most talented boy in the school, dubbed the Demigod, hoping his magic would make them shine, too? Neither girl is sure… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Eating disorder (anorexia)
Restrictive & disordered eating (theme)
Disordered food & weight thoughts
Suicide & attempted suicide
Self harm
Alcohol consumption
Recreational drug use
Body dysmorphia
Abortion
Death from starvation
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a sibling

A Sense of the Infinite by Hilary T Smith

A Sense of the Infinite by Hilary T. Smith

It’s senior year of high school, and Annabeth is ready for everything she and her best friend, Noe, have been planning and dreaming. But there are some things Annabeth isn’t prepared for, like the constant presence of Noe’s new boyfriend. Like how her relationship with her mom is wearing and fraying. And like the way the secret she’s been keeping hidden deep inside her for years has started clawing at her insides.

But most especially, she isn’t prepared to lose Noe… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Depression
Disordered eating
Attempted suicide
Self harm
Teen pregnancy
Pregnancy from rape*
Abortion
Emesis

*Note: A character learns she was the product of date-rape.

Force of Nature by Jane Harper

Force of Nature by Jane Harper

Five women reluctantly pick up their backpacks and start walking along a muddy track. Only four come out on the other side.

Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk has a keen interest in the whereabouts of the missing hiker, Alice Russell. Because Alice knew secrets, about the company she worked for and the people she worked with. The four returning women tell Falk a tale of fear, violence and fractured trust during their days in the remote Australian bushland. And as Falk delves into the disappearance of Alice, he begins to suspect some dangers ran far deeper than anyone knew.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Slut shaming
Nonconsensual distribution of private photographs online
Eating disorder
Abortion & miscarriage mentioned
Death of a parent recounted
Murder
Fire mentioned
Animal attack (snake)
Bullying

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

There is a hint of Armageddon in the air. According to the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, the world will end on a Saturday. So the Armies of Good and Evil are massing, and the world’s last two remaining witchfinders are getting ready to Fight the Good Fight. Atlantis is rising. Frogs are falling. Tempers are flaring, and everything appears to be going to Divine Plan.

Except that a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon are not particularly looking forward to the coming Rapture. They’ve lived amongst Humanity for millennia, and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle. So if Crowley and Aziraphale are going to stop it from happening, they’ve got to find and kill the AntiChrist (which is a shame, really, as he’s a nice kid). There’s just one glitch: someone seems to have misplaced him.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Homomisia & homomisic slurs
Fatmisia & body shaming
Racism & racist language
Starvation
Eating disorder
Childbirth
Blood depiction
Gun violence
Car accident
Animal abuse
Animal death

Final Girls by Riley Sager

Final Girls by Riley Sager

Ten years ago, college student Quincy Carpenter went on vacation with five friends and came back alone, the only survivor of a horror movie–scale massacre. In an instant, she became a member of a club no one wants to belong to—a group of similar survivors known in the press as the Final Girls. Lisa, who lost nine sorority sisters to a college dropout’s knife; Sam, who went up against the Sack Man during her shift at the Nightlight Inn; and now Quincy, who ran bleeding through the woods to escape Pine Cottage and the man she refers to only as Him. The three girls are all attempting to put their nightmares behind them, and, with that, one another. Despite the media’s attempts, they never meet… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism & ableist language
Slut shaming
Sexual assault (on-page)
Paedophilia & child sexual abuse
Cheating
Eating disorder recounted
Post traumatic disorder implied
Memory loss
Suicide
Self harm*
Recreational drug use
Prescription drug abuse
Nonconsensual drugging
Overdose
Alcohol consumption
Physical injuries
Emesis
Coma
Hospital
Cancer
Death of a friend
Death of a boyfriend
Mass murder
Knife violence & stabbing
Kidnapping & captivity
Poverty themes
Homelessness & displacement

*Note: Faked self harm wounds.

13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough

13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough

They say you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer, but when you’re a teenage girl, it’s hard to tell them apart.

Natasha doesn’t remember how she ended up in the icy water that night, but she does know this—it wasn’t an accident, and she wasn’t suicidal. Her two closest friends are acting strangely, and Natasha turns to Becca, the best friend she dumped years before when she got popular, to help her figure out what happened.

Natasha’s sure that her friends love her. But does that mean they didn’t try to kill her?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism
Queermisia
Slut shaming
Statutory rape
Memory loss
Eating disorder

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

Before the nightmare, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary life. But when splintering, blood-soaked images start haunting her thoughts, Yeong-hye decides to purge her mind and renounce eating meat. In a country where societal mores are strictly obeyed, Yeong-hye’s decision to embrace a more “plant-like” existence is a shocking act of subversion. And as her passive rebellion manifests in ever more extreme and frightening forms, scandal, abuse, and estrangement begin to send Yeong-hye spiralling deep into the spaces of her fantasy. In a complete metamorph… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Misogyny
Rape
Abuse of a disabled person
Cheating
Eating disorder & disordered eating
Self-harm
Delusions
Psychiatric hospitalisation
Animal death & cruelty

UnSlut: A Diary and a Memoir by Emily Lindin

UnSlut: A Diary and a Memoir by Emily Lindin

UnSlut: A Diary and a Memoir byb Emily Lindin book cover

When Emily Lindin was eleven years old, she was branded a “slut” by the rest of her classmates. For the next few years of her life, she was bullied incessantly at school, after school, and online. At the time, Emily didn’t feel comfortable confiding in her parents or in the other adults in her life. But she did keep a diary. UnSlut presents that diary, word for word, with split-page commentary to provide context and perspective. This unique diary and memoir sheds light on the important issues of sexual bullying, slut-shaming, and the murky mores of adolescent sexual development.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Misogyny, sexism & slut-shaming (theme)
Homophobia, body-shaming & ableist slurs
Sexual assault
Depression
Suicide & suicidal ideation
Self-harm mentioned, specifically cutting
Eating disorder mentioned (bulimia)
Alcohol consumption & drug use
Bullying

The Roses of May by Dot Hutchinson

The Roses of May by Dot Hutchinson

Near an isolated mansion lies a beautiful garden.

In this garden grow luscious flowers, shady trees…and a collection of precious “butterflies”—young women who have been kidnapped and intricately tattooed to resemble their namesakes. Overseeing it all is the Gardener, a brutal, twisted man obsessed with capturing and preserving his lovely specimens.

When the garden is discovered, a survivor is brought in for questioning. FBI agents Victor Hanoverian and Brandon Eddison are tasked with piecing together one of the most stomach-churning cases of their careers.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Paedophilia
Incest
Rape & sexual assault
Eating disorder
Suicide
Blood & gore depiction
Emesis
Murder
Stalking