Tag Archives: Starvation, Food Scarcity & Famine

The Chatelaine by Kate Heartfield

The Chatelaine by Kate Heartfield

Hell is empty and all the devils are here. The Chatelaine has come. The year is 1328 and Hell has overrun Bruges. Demons stalk the streets and revenants swarm the walls. The city’s men have fallen and only widows remain. But Hell should fear them. Margriet de Vos killed her first soldier when she was eleven. She has buried six children and will fight for the daughter left to her. Their only wealth is gone, taken into the inferno. And she will not be stolen from. The Devil be damned. Together with a man-at-arms with unfinished business, a widow and her forgehammer and a… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical ableism, antisemitism, misogyny & misgendering
  • Sexual assault mentioned
  • Body horror
  • Famine & plague
  • War themes
  • Poverty

Trial by Fire by Jeff Probst and Christ Tebbetts

Being shipwrecked on a jungle island in the middle of the South Pacific was bad enough. But now that Carter, Vanessa, Buzz and Jane have lost their boat – and almost everything on board – to another violent storm, it’s like starting over. That means finding food and shelter, making fire for the first time, dealing with the wild boars that roam the island – and of course, figuring out how to get along (and not kill each other in the process). Survival is no individual sport in a place like this, but there’s only one way to learn that. The hard way.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Physical illness & injury
  • Dead body
  • Water & food scarcity
  • Shipwreck
  • Animal attack

Love Unwritten by Lauren Asher

Ellie Sinclair is a hopeless romantic who writes love songs. I’m a struggling workaholic who could inspire a hundred breakup albums. On paper, we have nothing in common except for my son. For eight months, I avoid her until our summer trip. Fourteen days. Two islands. And one nanny I shouldn’t be attracted to. Spending time with Ellie is expected, but enjoying her company?
That isn’t part of our travel plans. After my divorce, I swore to protect my heart at all costs. Even if it means breaking hers in the process. What’s worse than working for a grumpy single dad? Admitting that I… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment & neglect recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Divorce recounted
  • Self-harm recounted
  • Compulsive eating due to childhood food insecurity (protagonist)

Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood

Rue Siebert might not have it all, but she has enough: a few friends she can always count on, the financial stability she yearned for as a kid, and a successful career as a biotech engineer at Kline, one of the most promising start-ups in the field of food science. Her world is stable, pleasant, and hard-fought. Until a hostile takeover and its offensively attractive front man threatens to bring it all crumbling down. Eli Killgore and his business partners want Kline, period. Eli has his own reasons for pushing this deal through… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Infidelity mentioned (secondary character)
  • Death of a parent from illness mentioned (off-page)
  • Childhood poverty & food insecurity recounted
  • Mention of an animal death during animal testing

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Heart of Darkness is the thrilling tale of Marlow, a seaman and wanderer recounting his physical and psychological journey in search of the infamous ivory trader Kurtz. Traveling upriver into the heart of the African continent, he gradually becomes obsessed by this enigmatic, wraith-like figure. Marlow’s discovery of how Kurtz has gained his position of power over the local people involves him in a radical questioning, not only of his own nature and values, but of those that underpin Western civilization itself.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Graphic racism & racial slurs
  • Slavery including death of slaves from exhaustion and malnourishment
  • Gun, cannon & arrow violence

The Stalker by Sarah Alderson

Newly-weds Liam and Laura are spending their honeymoon in paradise: just the two of them on a remote island off the coast of Scotland. But they soon discover that all is not as it seems, and the island has a tragic past. And they can’t shake the feeling of being watched… When one morning, they wake to find a message scratched into the window, their worst fears are confirmed. They aren’t alone on the island. And this stranger wants them dead.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Fatphobia and body shaming (on-page)
  • Child abuse mentioned
  • Domestic violence and intimate partner abuse including food deprivation, captivity, physical & sexual assault (on-page)
  • Rape by a spouse/partner (on-page)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Emesis
  • Mentions of a parent recovering from cancer
  • Physical injury and amateur medical treatment (on-page, glass shard stuck in foot)
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a fiance
  • Death of a mother from a fall down the stairs (later revealed to be murder)
  • Murder of a husband by gun violence (on-page, self-defence for abuse)
  • Stalking
  • Animal injury (crow)
  • Kidnapping of a pet dog
  • Murder of a kitten (abusive partner kills the cat off-page by the body is found on-page)

The Perfect Son by Freida McFadden

Erika Cass has a perfect family and a perfect life. Until the evening when two detectives show up at her front door A high school girl has vanished from Erika’s quiet suburban neighbourhood. The police suspect the worst–murder. And Erika’s teenage son, Liam, was the last person to see the girl alive. Erika has always sensed something dark and disturbed in her seemingly perfect older child. She wants to believe he’s innocent, but as the evidence mounts, she can’t deny the truth–Liam may have done the unthinkable. Now she must ask herself: How far will she go to protect her son?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity
  • Hospitalisation
  • Starvation & dehydration
  • Death of parents
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Incarceration
  • Fire
  • Animal death & cruelty

Daughter of Deep Silence by Carrie Ryan

I’m the daughter of murdered parents. I’m the friend of a dead girl. I’m the lover of my enemy. And I will have my revenge. In the wake of the devastating destruction of the luxury yacht Persephone, just three souls remain to tell its story—and two of them are lying. Only Frances Mace knows the terrifying truth, and she’ll stop at nothing to avenge the murders of everyone she held dear. Even if it means taking down the boy she loves and possibly losing herself in the process.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death by starvation & dehydration mentioned
  • Murder of both parents
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Poisoning
  • Near-drowning

The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

After saving her nation of Nikan from foreign invaders and battling the evil Empress Su Daji in a brutal civil war, Fang Runin was betrayed by allies and left for dead. Despite her losses, Rin hasn’t given up on those for whom she has sacrificed so much—the people of the southern provinces and especially Tikany, the village that is her home. Returning to her roots, Rin meets difficult challenges—and unexpected opportunities. While her new allies in the Southern Coalition leadership are sly and untrustworthy, Rin quickly realizes that the real power in Nikan lies… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & colourism
  • Sexism
  • Slavery
  • Sex-trafficking & slavery mentioned
  • Rape & sexual assault
  • Trauma
  • Intrusive thoughts & panic attacks
  • Self-harm
  • Suicide & suicidal ideation mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug abuse
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction including dead bodies
  • Physical injuries including amputation (off-page)
  • Medical experimentation mentioned
  • Famine & starvation
  • Emesis
  • Cannibalism
  • Decapitation
  • Mutilation & genital mutilation (castration)
  • Murder & mass death
  • Torture
  • Sword violence
  • Poisoning
  • Bombings
  • Animal abuse & death
  • Graphic war themes & battle scenes (theme)
  • Colonialism (theme)

Sanctuary with Kings by Kathryn Moon

Evanthia has spent half her life trapped inside the Seven Veils. When the house crumbles, she seizes her moment and runs from Birsha and his twisted pleasures. But pleasure is what she needs to survive, and the dark streets of London leave her starving and vulnerable. Rescued by a mysterious monster who vows her sanctuary, Evanthia must piece back the woman that Birsha tore apart. Quiet sanctuary is no cure for her endless hunger, but the war brewing on the horizon is the last place she wants to be. Hiding with sleeping dragons and lonely monsters in a castle made from dreams might be a fantasy, but it’s not… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Human & sex trafficking recounted
  • Rape recounted
  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Weight loss & gain mentioned
  • Starvation recounted
  • Emesis
  • Death of both parents recounted
  • Murder
  • Torture, off-page
  • Kidnapping & captivity