So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan

After an uneventful Friday at the Dublin office, Cathal faces into the long weekend and takes the bus home. There, his mind agitates over a woman named Sabine with whom he could have spent his life, had he acted differently. All evening, with only the television and a bottle of champagne for company, thoughts of this woman and others intrude – and the true significance of this particular date is revealed.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny discussed

The Familiars by Stacey Halls

Young Fleetwood Shuttleworth, a noblewoman, is with child again. None of her previous pregnancies have borne fruit, and her husband, Richard, is anxious for an heir. Then Fleetwood discovers a hidden doctor’s letter that carries a dire prediction: she will not survive another birth. By chance she meets a midwife named Alice Grey, who promises to help her deliver a healthy baby. But Alice soon stands accused of witchcraft. Is there more to Alice than meets the eye? Fleetwood must risk everything to prove her innocence. As the two women’s lives become intertwined, the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical sexism & misogyny
  • Adult-minor abusive marriage
  • Lancashire witch trials (theme)
  • Teen pregnancy (protagonist)
  • Infertility & miscarriages recounted

Context : The 17-year-old protagonist is pregnant and married to an adult man. She has had two miscarriages in the past, and is advised to not get pregnant again.

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family’s social position. What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain’s king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical misogyny, antisemitism & religious bigotry
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of parents recounted
  • Blood, gore & injury depiction including body horror and emesis
  • Torture indcuding waterboarding
  • Imprisonment
  • Fire
  • Animal cruelty & death (squirrel)

Act Your Age by Eve Dangerfield

All Kate ‘Middleton’ McGrath wants is a man to call ‘Daddy’ in bed. But kinks aren’t for everyone. She gets it. They’re definitely not going to be for her grumpaholic boss, Mr Henderson. But a girl can dream, can’t she? Especially when he’s always so stern with her. Tyler Henderson is a golden boy who’s lost his shine. He’s old, his dream career is over, his fiancée left him. Now all the former firefighter can do is bury his troubles in paperwork and hard liquor… and try to keep Middleton out of his head. He’s not going anywhere near that girl. He’s done with sweet and innocent. And things don’t come much sweeter or more innocent…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism & ableist slurs
  • Workplace sexism
  • Infidelity recounted
  • Cyberharassment & cyberstalking by an ex-partner

Still Life by Sarah Winman

Tuscany, 1944: As Allied troops advance and bombs fall around deserted villages, a young English soldier, Ulysses Temper, finds himself in the wine cellar of a deserted villa. There, he has a chance encounter with Evelyn Skinner, a middle-aged art historian who has come to Italy to salvage paintings from the ruins and recall long-forgotten memories of her own youth. In each other, Ulysses and Evelyn find a kindred spirit amongst the rubble of war-torn Italy, and set off on a course of events that will shape Ulysses’s life for the next four decades. As Ulysses returns.. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical sexism & homophobia mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • World War II

The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson

London, 1944: Clara Button is no ordinary librarian. While war ravages the city above her, Clara has risked everything she holds dear to turn the Bethnal Green tube station into the country’s only underground library. Down here, a secret community thrives with thousands of bunk beds, a nursery, a café, and a theatre—offering shelter, solace, and escape from the bombs that fall upon their city. Along with her glamorous best friend and assistant Ruby Munroe, Clara ensures the library is the beating heart of life underground. But as the war drags on, the women’s determination to remain strong in the face of adversity is tested to… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical sexism
  • Domestic violence
  • Panic attacks & Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Miscarriage
  • World War II

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf. Having barely left girlhood behind, Lucrezia must now enter an unfamiliar court whose customs are opaque and where her arrival is not universally welcomed… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical misogyny
  • Rape mentioned
  • Miscarriage mentioned
  • Animal cruelty mentioned

Most Ardently: A Pride & Prejudice Remix by Gabe Cole Novoa

London, 1812 . Oliver Bennet feels trapped—not just by the endless corsets, petticoats, and skirts he’s forced to wear on a daily basis, but also by society’s expectations. The world, and the vast majority of his family and friends, think Oliver is a girl named Elizabeth. He is therefore expected to mingle at balls wearing a pretty dress, entertain suitors regardless of his interest in them, and ultimately become someone’s wife. But Oliver can’t bear the thought of such a fate. He finds solace in the few times he can sneak out of his family’s home and explore the city rightfully dressed as a young gentleman. It’s during one such excursion… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical transphobia, homophobia & sexism
  • Misgendering & deadnaming
  • Gender dysphoria & body dysmorphia
  • Forced outing

Self-Made Boys: A Great Gatsby Remix by Anna-Marie McLemore

New York City, 1922. Nicolás Caraveo, a 17-year-old transgender boy from Minnesota, has no interest in the city’s glamor. Going to New York is all about establishing himself as a young professional, which could set up his future—and his life as a man—and benefit his family. Nick rents a small house in West Egg from his 18-year-old cousin, Daisy Fabrega, who lives in fashionable East Egg near her wealthy fiancé, Tom—and Nick is shocked to find that his cousin now goes by Daisy Fay, has erased all signs of her Latina heritage, and now passes seamlessly as white. Nick’s neighbour in West Egg is a mysterious young man… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical racism & colourism
  • Period-typical transphobia & homophobia
  • Period-typical sexism
  • Coming out themes
  • Cheating mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption & gambling
  • Emesis
  • Gun violence
  • Boating accident
  • Mentions of soldier’s military experiences in WW2

Memory Piece by Lisa Ko

In the early 1980s, Giselle Chin, Jackie Ong, and Ellen Ng are three teenagers drawn together by their shared sense of alienation and desire for something different. “Allied in the weirdest parts of themselves,” they envision each other as artistic collaborators and embark on a future defined by freedom and creativity. By the time they are adults, their dreams are murkier. As a performance artist, Giselle must navigate an elite social world she never conceived of. As a coder thrilled by the internet’s early egalitarian promise, Jackie must contend with its more sinister shift toward monetization and surveillance. And as a community acti… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Sexism
  • Cheating
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of a parent mentioned
  • Police brutality