Home by Martha Wells
This short story is told from the point of view of Dr. Mensah and follows the events in Exit Strategy.
Trigger & Content Warnings:
- PTSD & flashbacks
- Kidnapping recounted
- Captivity recounted
Home by Martha Wells
Tag Archives: PTSD & Trauma
This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and trauma.
The Underground Railway by Colson Whitehead
The Underground Railway by Colson Whitehead
Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. When a recent arrival from Virginia tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned—Cora kills a young white boy who tries to capture her. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted.
In Whitehead’s ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor—engineers and conductors operate a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Like the protagonist of Gulliver’s Travels, Cora encounters different worlds at each stage of her journey—hers is an odyssey through time as well as space. As Whitehead brilliantly re-creates the unique terrors for black people in the pre–Civil War era, his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day.
Trigger & Content Warnings:
- Racism & racial slurs
- White supremacy & the Klu Klux Klan
- Slavery
- Rape & sexual assault
- Paedophilia
- Domestic violence
- PTSD
- Suicide & attempted suicide
- Sterilization
- Murder
- Lynching
- Whipping
The Light Between Worlds by Laura E. Weymouth
The Light Between Worlds by Laura E. Weymouth
Five years ago, Evelyn and Philippa Hapwell cowered from air strikes in a London bomb shelter. But that night took a turn when the sisters were transported to another realm called the Woodlands. In a forest kingdom populated by creatures out of myth and legend, they found temporary refuge. When they finally returned to London, nothing had changed at all—nothing, except themselves.
Now, Ev spends her days sneaking into the woods outside her boarding schools. Overcome with longing, she is desperate to return no matter what it takes. Philippa, on the other hand, is determined to find a place in this world. She shields herself behind a flawless exterior and countless friends, and moves to America to escape the memory of what was.
But when Evelyn goes missing, Philippa must confront the depth of her sister’s despair and the painful truths they’ve been running from. As the weeks unfold, Philippa wonders if Ev truly did find a way home, or if the weight of their worlds pulled her under.
Trigger & Content Warnings:
- Disordered eating
- PTSD
- Depression
- Suicidal ideation
- Self-harm
- Emesis
- War themes
Heart and Seoul by Erin Kinsella
Heart & Seoul by Erin Kinsella
Beside herself with excitement, best-selling author Tessa Hale flies to the vibrant city of Seoul, where she’s meeting the cast of the film adaptation of her book. The thrill shifts to star-struck panic when she discovers the actor cast as the lead is the idol she’s been high-key crushing on for years.
Baek Eun Gi is part of one of the biggest K-pop groups in the business. Music has lost its lustre, and he’s hoping a shift in focus will bring back that connection he craves. Although he’s estranged from his family, he has his friends, and a healthy respect for the dating restrictions imposed upon him.
When their paths collide in the most unexpected—and embarrassing— of ways, they try to put it behind them. Too bad there are photos. The music company is irate and offers them a way out of the scandal—a marriage of convenience. Their lives are about to turn upside down, but it just might be the best thing that’s ever happened to them.
Trigger & Content Warnings:
- Child abuse mentioned
- Anxiety & panic attacks
- PTSD
- Detention
Dear Justyce by Nic Stone
Dear Justyce by Nic Stone
Shortly after teenager Quan enters a not guilty plea for the shooting death of a police officer, he is placed in a holding cell to await trial. Through a series of flashbacks and letters to Justyce, the protagonist of Dear Martin, Quan’s story unravels. From a troubled childhood and bad timing to a coerced confession and prejudiced police work, Nic Stone’s newest novel takes an unflinching look at the flawed practices and ideologies that discriminate against African American boys and minorities in the American justice system.
Trigger & Content Warnings:
- Racism (theme)
- Domestic violence
- Child abuse
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Anxiety & panic attacks
- Nightmares
- Sibling with cancer (leukemia) mentioned
- Food scarcity
- Police brutality & racial profiling
- Murder
- Gun violence
- Poverty themes
- Incarceration (theme)
Dead Space by Kali Wallace
Dead Space by Kali Wallace
Hester Marley used to have a plan for her life. But when a catastrophic attack left her injured, indebted, and stranded far from home, she was forced to take a dead-end security job with a powerful mining company in the asteroid belt. Now she spends her days investigating petty crimes to help her employer maximize its profits. She’s surprised to hear from a fellow victim of the terrorist attack that ruined her life–and that surprise quickly turns to suspicion when he claims to have discovered something shocking about their shared history.
Before Hester can learn more, her friend is violently murdered at a remote asteroid mine. Hester joins the investigation to find the truth, but catching a killer is only the beginning of Hester’s worries.
Trigger & Content Warnings:
- Ableism
- Racism
- PTSD & claustrophobia
- Panic attacks
- Suicide
- Blood depiction, body horror & medical trauma
- Sterilization
- Famine
- Murder
- Torture
- Kidnapping
- War themes & attempted genocide
Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake
Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake
“I need Owen to explain this. Because yes, I do know that Owen would never do that, but I also know Hannah would never lie about something like that.”
Mara and Owen are about as close as twins can get. So when Mara’s friend Hannah accuses Owen of rape, Mara doesn’t know what to think. Can the brother she loves really be guilty of such a violent crime? Torn between the family she loves and her own sense of right and wrong, Mara is feeling lost, and it doesn’t help that things have been strained with her ex-girlfriend and best friend since childhood, Charlie.
As Mara, Hannah, and Charlie navigate this new terrain, Mara must face a trauma from her own past and decide where Charlie fits in her future. With sensitivity and openness, this timely novel confronts the difficult questions surrounding consent, victim blaming, and sexual assault.
Trigger & Content Warnings:
- Coming out themes
- Bimisia
- Internalised enbymisia
- Slut-shaming
- Victim blaming, discussed
- Misogyny
- Racist microaggressions
- Rape, central theme
- Sexual assault
- Paedophillia*
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Panic attacks, multiple occurrences on-page
- Alcohol consumption
- Minor injury, mentioned
- Hospital visit, mentioned
- Medical procedure including a rape kit, recounted
- Physical assault
- Bullying
*Main character, who is a minor, is sexually abused by her teacher
Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett
Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett
Sancia Grado is a thief, and a damn good one. And her latest target, a heavily guarded warehouse on Tevanne’s docks, is nothing her unique abilities can’t handle.
But unbeknownst to her, Sancia’s been sent to steal an artifact of unimaginable power, an object that could revolutionize the magical technology known as scriving. The Merchant Houses who control this magic–the art of using coded commands to imbue everyday objects with sentience–have already used it to transform Tevanne into a vast, remorseless capitalist machine. But if they can unlock the artifact’s secrets, they will rewrite the world itself to suit their aims.
Now someone in those Houses wants Sancia dead, and the artifact for themselves. And in the city of Tevanne, there’s nobody with the power to stop them.
To have a chance at surviving—and at stopping the deadly transformation that’s under way—Sancia will have to marshal unlikely allies, learn to harness the artifact’s power for herself, and undergo her own transformation, one that will turn her into something she could never have imagined.
Trigger & Content Warnings:
- Fatmisia
- Hate slurs
- Slavery
- Sexual assault
- Domestic abuse
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Blood and gore depiction
- Medical experimentation
- Murder and attempted murder
- Gun violence
- Explosions
- Child trafficking
Zenith by Sasha Alsberg & Lindsay Cummings
Zenith by Sasha Alsberg & Lindsay Cummings
Most know Androma Racella as the Bloody Baroness, a powerful mercenary whose reign of terror stretches across the Mirabel Galaxy. To those aboard her glass starship, Marauder, however, she’s just Andi, their friend and fearless leader.
But when a routine mission goes awry, the Marauder‘s all-girl crew is tested as they find themselves in a treacherous situation and at the mercy of a sadistic bounty hunter from Andi’s past.
Meanwhile, across the galaxy, a ruthless ruler waits in the shadows of the planet Xen Ptera, biding her time to exact revenge for the destruction of her people. The pieces of her deadly plan are about to fall into place, unleashing a plot that will tear Mirabel in two.
Andi and her crew embark on a dangerous, soul-testing journey that could restore order to their ship or just as easily start a war that will devour worlds. As the Marauder hurtles toward the unknown, and Mirabel hangs in the balance, the only certainty is that in a galaxy run on lies and illusion, no one can be trusted.
Trigger & Content Warnings:
- Rape
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Grief depiction
- Murder
The Night Swim by Megan Goldin
The Night Swim by Megan Goldin
After the first season of her true crime podcast became an overnight sensation, Rachel Krall is now a household name―and the last hope for thousands of people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging for help.
The small town of Neapolis is being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. The town’s golden boy has been accused of raping a high school student. Under pressure to make Season Three a success, Rachel throws herself into interviewing and investigating―but someone is following her, and she won’t stop until Rachel finds out what happened to her sister twenty-five years ago.
The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved.
Trigger & Content Warnings:
- Misogyny
- Victim blaming (discussed in-depth)
- Rape culture (theme)
- Sexual assault
- Sexual harassment
- Paedophilia mentioned
- Graphic rape & gang rape of a minor discussed
- Physical child abuse recounted
- PTSD
- Panic attacks
- Night terrors
- Attempted suicide by drowning mentioned
- Suicide of a parent by overdose discussed
- Addiction mentioned
- Drug & alcohol abuse mentioned
- Terminal cancer
- Hospitalisation
- Grief & loss depiction
- Death of a mother recounted
- Death of a sister & child (off-page)
- Murder
- Gun violence
- Drowning
- Hostage situation
- Stalking
- Car accident & motorcycle accident recounted
- Animal injury mentioned (minor)
- Bullying & hazing
- Grave desecration
Trigger Warning Database 