Keynote
A new novel about the enduring trauma of police brutality by the award-winning author of Mother Country
Book Title
Trigger Warning
Subtitle
A Novel
Cover Image
- “This novel’s experience delivers considerably on rich and earned intensity.”—T.E. Lyons, Leo Weekly
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.
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.
List Price
$18.00
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About the Author
Credit: Jim Krause
Upcoming Events
Jacinda Townsend reading and in conversation with Dr. LaToya Eaves about TRIGGER WARNING at The Bottom
Date:
Location:
The Bottom in Knoxville, TNview map
$10 general admission ticket or $20 book bundle ticket. Click here to register.
Praise
- “Townsend explores the decades-long effects of police violence and what it means to survive deep, generational trauma.”—Alta Journal
- “A woman’s early trauma spirals over decades until middle age. . . . Each character’s attitudes and actions resonate with authentic observation.”—Kirkus Reviews
- “Fun, heartwarming, and hopeful. Ruth is perfect for fans of women protagonists at their wits’ end.”—Library Journal, starred review
- “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
