Rape – Page 135 – Trigger Warning Database

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.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

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

Killing Stalking by Koogi

Killing Stalking by Koogi

Yoon Bum, a scrawny, quiet boy, has a crush on one of the most popular and handsome guys in school, Sangwoo. One day, with Yoon Bum’s obsession toward Sangwoo reaching its peak, Yoon Bum decides to enter Sangwoo’s home. But what he sees inside is not the Sangwoo he had dreamed of.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism
Rape
Physical & psychological abuse
Abusive relationship
Borderline Personality Disorder
Blood & gore depiction
Mutilation
Kidnapping
Stalking
Knife violence
Torture

Hideous Beauty by William Hussey

Hideous Beauty by William Hussey

When Dylan and Ellis’s secret relationship is exposed on social media, Dylan is forced to come out. To Dylan’s surprise they are met with support and congratulations, and an amazing reception at their highschool dance. Perhaps people aren’t as narrow-minded as he thought?

But Dylan’s happiness is short-lived. Ellis suddenly becomes angry, withdrawn, and as they drive home from the dance, he loses control of the car, sending it plunging into Hunter’s Lake. Barely conscious, Dylan is pulled free of the wreck, while Ellis is left to drown.

Grief-stricken, Dylan vows to discover what happened to Ellis that night and piece together the last months of his boyfriend’s life – and realises just how little he knew about the boy he loved.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Coming out themes
Homomisia
Rape
Physical & sexual abuse
Recreational drug use
Cancer
Grief & loss depiction
Car accident

Gunmetal Magic by Ilona Andrews

Gunmetal Magic by Ilona Andrews

After being kicked out of the Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid, Andrea’s whole existence is in shambles. All she can do is to try to put herself back together, something made easier by working for Cutting Edge, a small investigative firm owned by her best friend Kate Daniels.

When several shapeshifters working for Raphael Medrano—the male alpha of the Clan Bouda and Andrea’s former lover—die unexpectedly at a dig site, Andrea is assigned to investigate…and must work with Raphael. As Andrea’s search for the killer leads her into the secret underbelly of supernatural Atlanta, she knows that dealing with her feelings for Raphael might have to take a back seat to saving the world…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Rape, recounted
Blood and gore depiction
Physical injury
Torture, recounted
Gun violence
Fire, recounted

Going Too Far by Catherine Alliott

Going Too Far by Catherine Alliott

“You’ve gone all fat and complacent because you’ve got your man, haven’t you?”

There are things only your best friend can tell you but this outrageous suggestion is met with indignation from Polly Penhalligan, who is recently married, trying for a baby and blissfully happy in her beautiful manor farmhouse in Cornwall. At least, she was, until Pippa’s unfortunate remark forces her to realise that her idyllic life of gorging on chocolate biscuits, counting her seemingly endless blessings and not getting dressed until lunchtime could be having a few unwelcome side-effects.

So Polly decides to razz things up a bit — and agrees to allow her home to be used as a location for a commercial. Having a glamorous film crew around should certainly put something of a bomb under rural life, shouldn’t it? But even before the cameras are set up and the stars released from their kennels, Polly’s life and marriage have been turned upside down.

This time, it seems, she’s gone too far…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Victim-blaming
Rape

The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan

The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan

Seventeen-year-old Rukhsana Ali tries her hardest to live up to her conservative Muslim parents’ expectations, but lately she’s finding that harder and harder to do. She rolls her eyes instead of screaming when they blatantly favor her brother and she dresses conservatively at home, saving her crop tops and makeup for parties her parents don’t know about. Luckily, only a few more months stand between her carefully monitored life in Seattle and her new life at Caltech, where she can pursue her dream of becoming an engineer.

But when her parents catch her kissing her girlfriend Ariana, all of Rukhsana’s plans fall apart. Her parents are devastated; being gay may as well be a death sentence in the Bengali community. They immediately whisk Rukhsana off to Bangladesh, where she is thrown headfirst into a world of arranged marriages and tradition. Only through reading her grandmother’s old diary is Rukhsana able to gain some much needed perspective.

Rukhsana realizes she must find the courage to fight for her love, but can she do so without losing everyone and everything in her life?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Homomisia
Racism
Colourism
Conversion therapy
Islamophobia
Rape
Sexual assault
Domestic abuse
Verbal abuse, towards queer characters
Physical abuse, towards queer characters

The Power by Naomi Alderman

The Power by Naomi Alderman

In The Power the world is a recognisable place: there’s a rich Nigerian kid who lounges around the family pool; a foster girl whose religious parents hide their true nature; a local American politician; a tough London girl from a tricky family. But something vital has changed, causing their lives to converge with devastating effect. Teenage girls now have immense physical power – they can cause agonising pain and even death. And, with this small twist of nature, the world changes utterly.

This extraordinary novel by Naomi Alderman, a Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year and Granta Best of British writer, is not only a gripping story of how the world would change if power was in the hands of women but also exposes, with breath-taking daring, our contemporary world.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Sexual assault
Rape
Forced suicide, by throat slitting
Blood depiction
Murder
Torture

No Exit by Taylor Adams

Nobody said being the daughter of an army general was easy. But when her dad sends a teenage subordinate to babysit her while he’s away… That’s taking it a step too far. Cade, as beautiful as he is deadly, watches Kori with more than just interest. He looks at her like he knows her very soul. And when he saves her from a seemingly random attack, well, that’s when things get weird. Turns out, Kori’s dad isn’t just an army general—he’s the head of a secret government project that has invented a way to travel between parallel dimensions. Dimensions where there are infinite Koris, infinite… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Fatphobia, racist slur & ableist language
Paedophilia, sexual assault & threats of rape
Child sex trafficking
Child abuse recounted
Alcoholism
Panic attacks recounted & nightmares
Alcohol consumption & abuse
Blood, gore & graphic injury depiction, including terminal cancer & emesis
Minor grief depiction
Death of a mother, brother & cousin
Murder & attempted murder
Torture
Gun violence
Physical assault
Kidnapping & captivity
Animal murder & torture recounted and death of a pet

Foul is Fair by Hannah Capin

Foul is Fair by Hannah Capin

Elle and her friends Mads, Jenny, and Summer rule their glittering LA circle. Untouchable, they have the kind of power other girls only dream of. Every party is theirs and the world is at their feet. Until the night of Elle’s sweet sixteen, when they crash a St. Andrew’s Prep party. The night the golden boys choose Elle as their next target.

They picked the wrong girl.

Sworn to vengeance, Elle transfers to St. Andrew’s. She plots to destroy each boy, one by one. She’ll take their power, their lives, and their control of the prep school’s hierarchy. And she and her coven have the perfect way in: a boy named Mack, whose ambition could turn deadly.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Misogyny
Transmisia
Rape
Sexual assault
Abusive relationship
Substance abuse
Suicide
Self-harm
Gore depiction
Murder
Bullying

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations.

Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Slavery
Sexism
Rape & attempted rape
Self harm
Suicide & attempted suicide
Blood & gore depiction
Surgery
Cannibalism
Starvation
Torture
Hanging