Tag Archives: Police Brutality & Violence

Dear Martin by Nic Stone

Dear Martin by Nic Stone

Justyce McAllister is top of his class and set for the Ivy League—but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. And despite leaving his rough neighbourhood behind, he can’t escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates. Justyce looks to the teachings of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. But do they hold up anymore? He starts a journal to Dr King to find out. Then comes the day Justuce goes driving with his best friend, Manny, windows rolled down, music turned up-way up, sparking the fury of a white off… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism (theme)
  • Domestic violence
  • Police brutality & racial profiling
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend
  • Incarceration mentioned

North to Paradise by Ousman Umar

North to Paradise by Ousman Umar

Ousman Umar is a shaman’s son born in a small village in Ghana. Though his mother died giving birth, he spent a contented childhood working the fields, setting traps in the jungle, and living off the land. Still, as strange and wondrous flying machines crisscrossed the skies overhead, Ousman dreamed of a different life. And so, when he was only twelve years old, he left his village and began what would be a five-year journey to Europe. Every step of the way, as he travelled across the Sahara desert, through the daunting metropolises… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Attempted sexual assault
  • Child abuse (child labour)
  • Death of a parent
  • Police brutality
  • Drowning
  • Imprisonment & confinement
  • Homelessness

The World We Make by NK Jemisin

The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin

All is not well in the city that never sleeps. Even though the avatars of New York City have temporarily managed to stop the Woman in White from invading—and destroying the entire universe in the process—the mysterious capital “E” Enemy has more subtle powers at her disposal. A new candidate for mayor wielding the populist rhetoric of gentrification, xenophobia, and “law and order” may have what it takes to change the very nature of New York itself and take it down from the inside. In order to defeat him, and the Enemy who holds his purse strings, the avatars will have to join together with the other Great Cities of the world in… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Deportation
  • Police brutality

Gutter Child by Jael Richardson

Gutter Child by Jael Richardson

Set in an imagined world in which the most vulnerable are forced to buy their freedom by working off their debt to society, Gutter Child uncovers a nation divided into the privileged Mainland and the policed Gutter. In this world, Elimina Dubois is one of only 100 babies taken from the Gutter and raised in the land of opportunity as part of a social experiment led by the Mainland government. But when her Mainland mother dies, Elimina finds herself all alone, a teenager forced into an unfamiliar life of servitude… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Indentured servitude
  • Rape
  • Forced sex work
  • Child abuse
  • Suicide
  • Teen pregnancy
  • Miscarriage
  • Murder of an infant
  • Police brutality

We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza

We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza

Jen and Riley have been best friends since kindergarten. As adults, they remain as close as sisters, though their lives have taken different directions. Jen married young, and after years of trying, is finally pregnant. Riley pursued her childhood dream of becoming a television journalist and is poised to become one of the first Black female anchors of the top news channel in their hometown of Philadelphia. But the deep bond they share is severely tested when Jen’s husband, a city police officer, is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager. Six month… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Pregnancy & childbirth
  • Infertility & IVF treatment
  • Miscarriage
  • Police brutality including the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager

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

Refugee by Alan Gratz

Refugee by Alan Gratz

Josef is a Jewish boy in 1930s Nazi Germany. With the threat of concentration camps looming, he and his family board a ship bound for the other side of the world. Isabel is a Cuban girl in 1994. With riots and unrest plaguing her country, she and her family set out on a raft, hoping to find safety and freedom in America. Mahmoud is a Syrian boy in 2015. With his homeland torn apart by violence and destruction, he and his family begin a long trek toward Europe. All three young people will go on harrowing journeys in search of refuge. All will face unimaginable dangers… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Antisemitism
  • Blood depiction
  • Attempted suicide & suicidal ideation of a parent
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Physical injury
  • Physical assault
  • Police violence
  • Riots
  • Home invasion
  • Bombing
  • Imprisonment in concentration camps
  • War themes
  • Refugee experiences and displacement
  • Animal death

Home Is Not a Country by Safia Elhillo

Home Is Not a Country by Safia Elhillo

Nima doesn’t feel understood. By her mother, who grew up far away in a different land. By her suburban town, which makes her feel too much like an outsider to fit in and not enough like an outsider to feel like that she belongs somewhere else. At least she has her childhood friend Haitham, with whom she can let her guard down and be herself. Until she doesn’t. As the ground is pulled out from under her, Nima must grapple with the phantom of a life not chosen, the name her parents didn’t give her at birth: Yasmeen. But that other name, that other girl, might just be more real… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Islamomisia
  • Hate crime
  • Attempted rape mentioned
  • Cheating mentioned
  • Hospital
  • Death of a parent, off-page
  • Police violence & brutality
  • Drowning

Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen

Lavender House by Lev A.C. Rosen

Lavender House, 1952: the family seat of recently deceased matriarch Irene Lamontaine, head of the famous Lamontaine soap empire. Irene’s recipes for her signature scents are a well-guarded secret—but it’s not the only one behind these gates. This estate offers a unique freedom, where none of the residents or staff hide who they are. But to keep their secret, they’ve needed to keep others out. And now they’re worried they’re keeping a murderer in. Irene’s widow hires Evander Mills to uncover the truth behind her mysterious death. Andy, recently fired… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia & slurs
  • Hate crimes, including gay bashing
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Murder
  • Police brutality
  • Animal death & hunting (rabbit)

Fire Becomes Her by Rosiee Thor

Fire Becomes Her by Rosiee Thor

With only a drop of flare, one can light the night sky with fireworks . . . or burn a building to the ground — and seventeen-year-old Ingrid Ellis wants her fair share. Ingrid doesn’t have a family fortune, monetary or magical, but at least she has a plan: Rise to the top on the arm of Linden Holt, heir to a hefty political legacy and the largest fortune of flare in all of Candesce. Her only obstacle is Linden’s father who refuses to acknowledge her. So when Senator Holt announces his run for president, Ingrid uses the situation to her advantage. She strikes a deal to spy on… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Classism
  • Misogyny
  • Abandonment
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood depiction
  • Police brutality
  • Fire & immolation
  • Explosion
  • Incarcerated parent
  • Terrorism
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