The Education of Ivy Blake by Ellen Airgood

The Education of Ivy Blake by Ellen Airgood

Ivy has loved living with her best friend, Prairie, and being part of Prairie’s lively, happy family. But now Ivy’s mom has decided to take her back. Ivy tries to pretend everything is fine, but her mom’s neglect and embarrassing public tantrums often make Ivy feel ashamed and alone. Fortunately, Ivy is able to find solace in art, in movies, and from the pleasure she finds in observing and appreciating life’s small, beautiful moments. And when things with her mom reach the tipping point, this ability gives her the strength and power to push on and shape her own future.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Smoking mentioned
  • Hospitalisation mentioned
  • Gun violence recounted
  • Incarceration of a parent
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Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned–from the layout of the winding roads, to the colors of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.

Enter Mia Warren–an enigmatic artist and single mother–who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Classism
  • Child abandonment
  • Abortion
  • Miscarriage mentioned
  • Hospitalisation
  • Death of a sibling recounted
  • Death of a friend recounted
  • Car accident recounted
  • Kidnapping
  • Fire
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Waiting by Carol Lynn Williams

Waiting by Carol Lynn Williams

Growing up in Africa and Latin America as the children of missionaries, London and Zach were as close as could be. And then Zach dies, and the family is gutted. London’s father is distant. Her mother won’t speak. The days are filled with what-ifs and whispers: Did Zach take his own life? Was it London’s fault?

Alone and adrift, London finds herself torn between her brother’s best friend and the handsome new boy in town as she struggles to find herself—and ultimately redemption.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Teen pregnancy
  • Depression
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a brother by suicide
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Glimpse by Carol Lynn Williams

Glimpse by Carol Lynn Williams

In one moment
it is over.
In one moment
it is gone.

Twelve-year-old Hope’s life is turned upside down when her older sister, Lizzie, becomes an elective mute and is institutionalized after trying to kill herself. Hope and Lizzie have relied on each other from a young age, ever since their dad died. Their mother, who turns tricks to support her family, is a reluctant and unreliable parent—at best.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexual assault
  • Forced sex work
  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Attempted suicide
  • Abortion
  • Hospitalisation
  • Death of a pet dog
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A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them.

What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But until now, there has not been a first-person account from someone who came through this hell and survived… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Child abuse
  • Sexual assault mentioned
  • Substance addiction
  • Recreational drug use & abuse
  • Blood & physical injury depiction
  • Hospital
  • Needles
  • Emesis
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Immolation
  • Torture
  • Vivisepulture (being buried alive)
  • Drowning mentioned
  • Kidnapping
  • War & rebellion themes, including child soldiers (themes)
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1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

The year is 1Q84. This is the real world, there is no doubt about that.

But in this world, there are two moons in the sky.

In this world, the fates of two people, Tengo and Aomame, are closely intertwined. They are each, in their own way, doing something very dangerous. And in this world, there seems no way to save them both.

Something extraordinary is starting. 

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Child abuse
  • Domestic violence
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Needles & syringes
  • Hospital
  • Death of a parent
  • Animal death
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A Stitch in Time by Kelley Armstrong

A Stitch in Time by Kelley Armstrong

Thorne Manor has always been haunted…and it has always haunted Bronwyn Dale. As a young girl, Bronwyn could pass through a time slip in her great-aunt’s house, where she visited William Thorne, a boy her own age, born two centuries earlier. After a family tragedy, the house was shuttered and Bronwyn was convinced that William existed only in her imagination.

Now, twenty years later Bronwyn inherits Thorne Manor. And when she returns, William is waiting… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Transmisia
  • Psychiatric hospitalisation recounted
  • Death of a spouse recounted
  • Death of a child recounted
  • Murder
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Five Little Liars by Amanda K Morgan

Five Little Liars by Amanda K. Morgan

Nothing ruins summer vacation like a secret . . . especially when that secret is a dead teacher.

Ivy used to be on top of the social ladder, until her ex made that all go away. She has the chance to be Queen Bee again, but only if the rest of the group can keep quiet. Tyler has always been a bad boy, but lately he’s been running low on second chances. There’s no way he’s going to lose everything because someone couldn’t keep their mouth shut. Kinley wouldn’t describe herself as perfect, though everyone else would… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Hospitalisation
  • Blackmail
  • Bullying
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The Wives by Tarryn Fisher

The Wives by Tarryn Fisher

Thursday’s husband, Seth, has two other wives. She’s never met them, and she doesn’t know anything about them. She agreed to this unusual arrangement because she’s so crazy about him. But one day, she finds something. Something that tells a very different—and horrifying—story about the man she married.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slut-shaming
  • Child abuse mentioned
  • Domestic violence
  • Alcoholism
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Graphic discussions of miscarriage & stillbirth
  • Psychiatric hospitalisation
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Stalking

To Drink Coffee with a Ghost by Amanda Lovelace

To Drink Coffee with a Ghost by Amanda Lovelace

This book poses the ever-lingering question: What happens when someone dies before they’re able to redeem themselves?

From the bestselling & award-winning poetess, amanda lovelace, comes the finale of her illustrated duology, “things that h(a)unt.” In the first installment, to make monsters out of girls, lovelace explored the memory of being in a toxic romantic relationship. In to drink coffee with a ghost, lovelace unravels the memory of the complicated relationship she had with her now-deceased mother.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexual assault
  • Cheating
  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Abusive relationship
  • Eating disorder
  • Depression
  • Self harm
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Forced hospitalisation
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