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Book Title

Trigger Warning

Subtitle
A Novel
Author 1
Jacinda Townsend
Body
She’d gotten no trigger warning. And her entire life, she wanted to scream now, had deserved a trigger warning.
 
Early in life, Ruth survived a series of devastating events: Her little brother died from a childhood illness, her mother died of grief, and then her father was shot by the police right in front of their home. In the years following her father’s murder, Ruth pushes her past underground. She changes her name and moves to Kentucky, marries a man named Myron, and together they raise a kid. It’s been two decades, and she is, by outside measures, living a good life—but why doesn’t it feel good? When her marriage comes to a sudden end, their house burns down in the middle of the night, and she learns that her estranged sister has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Ruth is jolted back into action. She flees again, this time back to her home state of California, with her nonbinary teenager in tow, perhaps ready at last to face her pain and retrieve her former self.
 
Searing, surprisingly witty, and deeply human, Trigger Warning is a novel about the durational aftermath of anti-Black police violence. Through the perspectives of Ruth and Myron, and those of their friends and their child, Townsend explores divorce and desire, the heartbreaking brevity of parenting, the push and pull of old friendships, and the possibility, after incredible trauma, of reconnecting to what makes us feel alive.

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List Price
$18.00
ISBN
ISBN
978-1-64445-354-4
Format
Format
Paperback
Publication Date
Publication Date
Subject
Subject
Pages
Pages
328
Trim Size
Trim Size
5.5 x 8.25
Keynote
A new novel about the enduring trauma of police brutality by the award-winning author of Mother Country

About the Author

Jacinda  Townsend
Credit: Jim Krause
Jacinda Townsend is the author of Saint Monkey, which won the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize and the James Fenimore Cooper Prize. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and teaches in the MFA program at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
More by author

Upcoming Events

Jacinda Townsend reading and in conversation with Lauren Francis-Sharma about TRIGGER WARNING at Loyalty Bookstore

Date:
Location:
Loyalty Bookstore -- Petworth in Washington, DCview map
Stay tuned for details!

Jacinda Townsend reading and in conversation about TRIGGER WARNING at Carmichael's Bookstore

Date:
Location:
Carmichael's Bookstore (Frankfort) in Louisville, KYview map
Free and open to the public. Copies of Trigger Warning will be available for purchase from Carmichael's Bookstore. Click here for details.

Jacinda Townsend reading and in conversation with Nadia Owusu about TRIGGER WARNING at P&T Knitwear

Date:
Location:
P&T Knitwear Books and Podcasts in New York, NYview map

Praise

  • “I became addicted to the characters in Jacinda Townsend’s Trigger Warning, each of them so beautifully sculpted, flawed, wonderful, and specific. This is juicy and intelligent fiction about history, family, secrets, and the elusive search for the authentic self.”—Asali Solomon, author of Days of Afrekete
  • Trigger Warning is a prescient and powerful work that pushes us towards a deeper understanding of ourselves—it’s a fantastic read.”—S.A. Cosby, author of All the Sinners Bleed
  • “The characters in Jacinda Townsend’s Trigger Warning are complicated, messy people that you won’t want to turn away from. They are also funny, human, and broken in the ways we all are. This book is both a journey and a reckoning.”—Rion Amilcar Scott, author of The World Doesn't Require You
  • “Ruth, the embattled heroine of Jacinda Townsend's irresistible new novel, has endured more tragedy than most mere mortals can stand. Landscapes may change, she realizes, but grief, like time, is ever present and unrelenting. Complicated, contradictory, and compelling, Ruth gives the phrase ‘ride or die’ an unforgettable new dimension.”—Jabari Asim, author of Yonder
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