Fire & Arson – Page 64 – Trigger Warning Database

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.

By her brother’s graveside, Liesel’s life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger’s Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor’s wife’s library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel’s foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel’s world is both opened up, and closed down.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism, including blackface, and antiziganism (g slur)
Anti-semitism and Nazism (theme)
Ableism & ableist language
Parental abandonment & verbal abuse
PTSD & nightmares
Recreational drug use (smoking)
Emesis
Starvation
Gore depiction (dead bodies)
Death of a brother
Death of a child
Death of a father & uncle mentioned
Murder
Explosions, including air raids, and fire
Death by exposure to the cold
War themes* and battle scenes
Poverty themes
Bullying

*Set during WWII and discussed the Holocaust.

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.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

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

Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson

Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson

Meet Kate Malone – straight-A science and math geek, minister’s daughter, ace long-distance runner, new girlfriend (to Mitchell “Early Decision Harvard” Pangborn III), unwilling family caretaker, and emotional avoidance champion. Kate manages her life by organizing it as logically as the periodic table. She can handle it all – or so she thinks.

Then, things change as suddenly as a string of chemical reactions; first, the Malones’ neighbors get burned out of their own home and move in. Kate has to share her room with her nemesis, Teri Litch, and Teri’s little brother. The days are ticking down and she’s still waiting to hear from the only college she applied to: MIT. Kate feels that her life is spinning out of her control – and then, something happens that truly blows it all apart.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Rape
Paedophilia & child sexual abuse
Incest (father-daughter)
Child pregnancy
Pregnancy from rape
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a child
Death of a brother
Fire & loss of property
Electrocution
Bullying

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.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

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

Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power

Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power

Ever since Margot was born, it’s been just her and her mother. No answers to Margot’s questions about what came before. No history to hold on to. No relative to speak of. Just the two of them, stuck in their run-down apartment, struggling to get along.

But that’s not enough for Margot. She wants a family. She wants a past. And she just found the key she needs to get it: A photograph, pointing her to a town called Phalene. Pointing her home. Only, when Margot gets there, it’s not what she bargained for. Margot’s mother left for a reason. But was it to hide her past? Or was it to protect Margot from what’s still there?

The only thing Margot knows for sure is there’s poison in their family tree, and their roots are dug so deeply into Phalene that now that she’s there, she might never escape.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Emotional parental abuse & gaslighting
Nonconsensual pregnancy
Blood and gore depiction
Body horror
Dead body
Emesis mentioned
Death of an infant, off-page
Gun violence, off-page
Fire

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 . . .

Goodreads • The Story Graph

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).

The Legend of the Golden Raven by K Ancrum

The Legend of the Golden Raven by K. Ancrum

August and Jack weren’t meant to be friends. One is a misfit with a pyro streak and the other a golden boy on the rugby team. But as their relationship intensifies, Jack slowly begins to lose his mind—taking readers on an intimate journey into the fantasy kingdom creeping into the edges of his world.

As the novella moves back and forth between a medieval legend and our own, contemporary world, nothing is as it seems. The boys alienate everyone around them as they struggle with their sanity and as Jack’s quest to fulfill a dark prophecy begins to consume them both . . .

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Child abuse & neglect (theme)
Degenerative hallucinatory disorder, hallucinations & delusions
Trauma, codependency & separation anxiety
Fire & pyromania

The Wicker King by K Ancrum

The Wicker King by K. Ancrum

When August learns that his best friend, Jack, shows signs of degenerative hallucinatory disorder, he is determined to help Jack cope. Jack’s vivid and long-term visions take the form of an elaborate fantasy world layered over our own—a world ruled by the Wicker King. As Jack leads them on a quest to fulfill a dark prophecy in this alternate world, even August begins to question what is real or not.

August and Jack struggle to keep afloat as they teeter between fantasy and their own emotions. In the end, each must choose his own truth.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableist language
Child abuse & neglect (theme)
Panic attacks & anxiety attacks
Depression & depressive episodes
Degenerative hallucinatory disorder, hallucinations & delusions
Trauma, codependency & separation anxiety
Suicidal ideation and self-harm
Alcohol consumption
Needles
Surgery
Forced psychiatric hospitalisation
Fire & pyromania
Drowning

Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

It’s 200 years since Cinderella found her prince, but the fairytale is over. Sophia knows the story though, off by heart. Because every girl has to recite it daily, from when she’s tiny until the night she’s sent to the royal ball for choosing. And every girl knows that she has only one chance. For the lives of those not chosen by a man at the ball are forfeit. But Sophia doesn’t want to be chosen – she’s in love with her best friend, Erin, and hates the idea of being traded like cattle. And when Sophia’s night at the ball goes horribly wrong, she must run for her life. Alone and terrified, she finds herself hiding in Cinderella’s tomb. And there… Read more,

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Misogyny (central theme)
Racism & queerphobia (specifically lesbophobia & homophobia)
Nonconsensual and coerced marriage of teenage girls to adult men (theme), including ‘corrective’ marriage & nonconsensual polygamy
Sexual harassment & sexual assault (on-page)
Physical & financial domestic abuse (on-page & off-page)
Child abuse
Implied suicide
Food deprivation mentioned
Blood & gore depiction
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a friend
Murder & attempted murder
Knife violence
Explosion & fire
Imprisonment
Animal death & animal attack

The Camelot Betrayal by Kiersten White

The Camelot Betrayal by Kiersten White

Everything is as it should be in Camelot: King Arthur is expanding his kingdom’s influence with Queen Guinevere at his side. Yet every night, dreams of darkness and unknowable power plague her. Guinevere might have accepted her role, but she still cannot find a place for herself in all of it. The closer she gets to Brangien, pining for her lost love Isolde, Lancelot, fighting to prove her worth as Queen’s knight, and Arthur, everything to everyone and thus never quite enough for Guinevere–the more she realizes how empty she is. She has no sense of who she truly… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Misogyny
Coming out & lesbomisia mentioned
Persecution for witchcraft
Rape by coercion recounted & discussed
Adult-minor relationships discussed
Child abuse mentioned
Aquaphobia & related anxiety attacks
Amnesia
Alcohol consumption
Death of a sister & baby son mentioned
Exile & banishment mentioned
Murder & attempted murder
Poisoning
Kidnapping recounted
Fire (multiple scenes)
Military violence mentioned & recounted
Animal death & animal attack