Tag Archives: Paedophilia, Grooming & CSA

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of paedophilia, hebephilia, grooming, and child sexual abuse, including the sexual assault and rape of minors (people under the age of eighteen).

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

Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk

Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk

The stories are told by people who have all answered an ad headlined ‘Artists Retreat: Abandon your life for three months‘. They are led to believe that here they will leave behind all the distractions of ‘real life’ that are keeping them from creating the masterpiece that is in them. But ‘here’ turns out to be a cavernous and ornate old theatre where they are utterly isolated from the outside world and where heat and power and, most importantly, food are in increasingly short supply. And the more desperate the circumstances become, the more desperate the stories they tell – and the more devious their machinations to make them… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Paedophilia & sexual assault of a child
  • Body horror
  • Starvation
  • Cannibalism
  • Infanticide, on-page
  • Torture
  • Animal death (cat)

All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers

All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers

Everyone from Wakarusa, Indiana, remembers the case of January Jacobs, who was found dead in a ditch hours after her family awoke to find her gone. Margot Davies was six at the time, the same age as January—and they were next-door neighbours. In the twenty years since, Margot has grown up, moved away, and become a big-city journalist, but she’s always been haunted by the fear that it could’ve been her. And the worst part is, January’s killer has never been brought to justice. When Margot returns home to help care for her sick uncle, it feels like walking into a time capsule… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault of a minor, off-page
  • Domestic abuse
  • Relative with dementia
  • Suicide
  • Miscarriage
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping

The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny

The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny

No outsiders are ever admitted to the monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups, hidden deep in the wilderness of Quebec, where two dozen cloistered monks live in peace and prayer. They grow vegetables, they tend chickens, they make chocolate. And they sing. Ironically, for a community that has taken a vow of silence, the monks have become world-famous for their glorious voices, raised in ancient chants whose effect on both singer and listener is so profound it is known as “the beautiful mystery.” But when the renowned choir director is murdered, the lock on the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Paedophilia
  • Substance addiction
  • Drug use & abuse
  • Police brutality
  • Gun violence

White Houses by Amy Bloom

White Houses by Amy Bloom

Lorena Hickok meets Eleanor Roosevelt in 1932 while reporting on Franklin Roosevelt’s first presidential campaign. Having grown up worse than poor in South Dakota and reinvented herself as the most prominent woman reporter in America, “Hick,” as she’s known to her friends and admirers, is not quite instantly charmed by the idealistic, patrician Eleanor. But then, as her connection with the future first lady deepens into intimacy, what begins as a powerful passion matures into a lasting love and a life that Hick… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Incest
  • Paedophilia

When You Find Me by PJ Vernon

When You Find Me by P.J. Vernon

Visiting her family’s South Carolina estate, socialite Gray Godfrey wakes from a night out to an empty bed. Her husband Paul is gone and a thrashing hangover has wiped her memory clean. At first, she’s relieved for the break from her tumultuous marriage; perhaps Paul just needed some space. But when his car is found abandoned on the highway, Gray must face the truth: Paul is gone. And Gray may not want him found. When a stranger named Annie calls claiming to know Paul’s whereabouts, Gray reluctantly accepts her help. But this ally is not what she seems: soon Annie is sending frightening messages and revealing… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault of a child
  • Trauma
  • Alcohol abuse
  • Disappearance of a spouse

Obasan by Joy Kogawa

Obasan by Joy Kogawa

Obasan is the moving story of Japanese-Canadians during the Second World War, told through the eyes of a child. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, five-year-old Naomi’s life is changed forever. Separated from her mother, she watches bewildered as she and her family become enemy aliens, persecuted and despised in their own land.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Paedophilia & child sexual abuse

Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore

Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore

What if you could live forever—but without your one true love? Reincarnation Blues is the story of a man who has been reincarnated nearly 10,000 times, in search of the secret to immortality so that he can be with his beloved, the incarnation of Death. Neil Gaiman meets Kurt Vonnegut in this darkly whimsical, hilariously profound, and wildly imaginative comedy of the secrets of life and love. Transporting us from ancient India to outer space to Renaissance Italy to the present day, is a journey through time, space, and the human heart.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Slavery
  • Graphic rape
  • Sexual assault of a child
  • Suicide, on-page
  • Torture
  • Animal death

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Charlie is a freshman. And while he’s not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it. Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But Charlie can’t stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of lifee… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Ableism
  • Racism
  • Paedophilia & sexual assault of a child recounted
  • Physical child abuse recounted
  • Intimate partner violence*
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use & smoking
  • Abortion (sc)
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of an aunt in a car accident
  • Death of a friend from suicide (theme)
  • Physical assault (fistfights)

*Context : The protagonist’s sister is physically abused by her boyfriend who she continues to date. The protagonist also accompanies her to have an abortion.

A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by CA Fletcher

A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher

My name’s Griz. My childhood wasn’t like yours. I’ve never had friends, and in my whole life I’ve not met enough people to play a game of football. My parents told me how crowded the world used to be, but we were never lonely on our remote island. We had each other, and our dogs. Then the thief came. There may be no law left except what you make of it. But if you steal my dog, you can at least expect me to come after you. Because if we aren’t loyal to the things we love, what’s the point?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Forced sex work & sexual assault of a minor, off-page
  • Forced pregnancy of a child mentioned
  • Miscarriage
  • Physical injury
  • Emesis
  • Death of a sister from a fall recounted
  • Animal death

A Narrow Door by Joanne Harris

A Narrow Door by Joanne Harris

Now I’m in charge, the gates are my gates. The rules are my rules. It’s an incendiary moment for St Oswald’s school. For the first time in its history, a headmistress is in power, the gates opening to girls. Rebecca Buckfast has spilled blood to reach this position. Barely forty, she is just starting to reap the harvest of her ambition. As the new regime takes on the old guard, the ground shifts. And with it, the remains of a body are discovered. But Rebecca is here to make her mark. She’ll bury the past so deep it will evade even her own memory, just like she has done before. After all. You can’t keep a good woman down.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Paedophilia mentioned