Literary Trauma

Most people are familiar with PTSD. But many have not heard of complex PTSD and developmental trauma disorder. As adults, many of us experience symptoms of anxiety and depression. We feel chronically stressed. We have trouble trusting others, or we may even experience feelings of paranoia in our relationships with others. We struggle to define what it is that is bothering us, and we struggle to find ways effective ways to treat it.

Traumatic experiences happen to nearly everyone, at some time, in some form. The aftereffects—depression, anxiety, addiction, panic attacks, insomnia, and more—can affect us for years or even a lifetime. But the brokenness following a traumatic event is never a life sentence. We are all changed by trauma, but we do not have to be defined by it.

This book examines the effects and impacts of intergenerational trauma. It also explores the effects of both single-event traumas and multigenerational trauma in addition to examining the history of traumatic events that have affected entire cultures and societies. The book examines the development of treatments for trauma-related disorders. Additionally, the author explains how a few therapeutic approaches can be applied to intergenerational trauma.

A lonely boy in a prairie town befriends a local outsider in 1947 and then witnesses a shocking murder. Based on a true story. Canwood, Saskatchewan, 1947. Leonard Flint, a lonely boy in a small farming town befriends the local outsider, a man known as Rabbit Foot Bill. Bill doesn’t talk much...

“Narrator Ina Barrón arrives at the mic fully formed, providing a notable performance of distinct characterizations.”—Booklist From the author of White Horse (“Twisty and electric.” —The New York Times Book Review) comes a terrifying and resonant novel about a woman who uses her...

What if trauma was like a spell—one that doesn’t break all at once, but unravels, layer by layer? Reframing Trauma is a personal, straight-talking resource for anyone living with the long shadow of trauma. James Buffin shares what it’s really like to survive—and live with—the impact of childhood sexual assault, abuse, and loss. Through stories, reflections, and hard-earned insights, he speaks not as an expert, but as someone who’s been there. This book isn’t about fixing what’s “broken”—it’s about integrating the invisible burdens we carry and learning to hold them differently.

Welcome to Rivers Solomon's dark and wondrous Model Home, a new kind of haunted-house novel. The three Maxwell siblings keep their distance from the lily-white gated enclave outside Dallas where they grew up. When their family moved there, they were the only Black family in the neighborhood. The...

Self-healing through self-parenting, a concept introduced a generation ago, has helped thousands of adult children of alcoholics who are codependent and have conflicts in their primary relationships. Now Patricia O'Gorman, PhD, and Phil Diaz, MSW, authors of the classic book The 12 Steps to Self-Parenting for Adult Children and its companion workbook, expand the reach of that successful healing paradigm to anyone who has suffered from any kind of trauma.

A finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the Story Prize, the first ever collection of “dazzlingly told” (The New York Times) literary short stories from Don DeLillo, the National Book Award-winning author of Underworld and Falling Man. Set in Greece, the Caribbean, Manhattan, a...

She was born for all the wrong reasons. But her search for the truth reveals answers she wishes she could bury in Forget Me Not, a suspenseful and deeply moving near-future thriller from the author of The Last One. “A page-turning mystery . . . highly original, sharply insightful, and...

“One of the most intense—and often enjoyable—reading experiences I’ve had this year. I will surely be inhaling whatever C. Mallon writes next.” —Isaac Fitzgerald, The New York Times Book Review A singular, devastating debut novel, Dogs traces the fallout of one catastrophic night in...

“A chilling exploration of privilege, memory, and the unsettling weight of inherited history.” —Oprah Daily In this thrilling New England gothic set in the late 1980s, a group of young cousins wander deep into the woods on their family’s property, drawn in by uncanny visions and the...

Amelia stands beside a highway in the Australian desert, alone except for her dog and the occasional road train that speeds past her raised thumb. After her mother's funeral, Amelia was confronted by Zach and reminded of the relationship they had when she was a teenager. She feels complicit and...

Falling Man is a magnificent, essential novel about the event that defines turn-of-the-century America. It begins in the smoke and ash of the burning towers and tracks the aftermath of this global tremor in the intimate lives of a few people. There is September 11 and then there are the days...

A curse rolls out over centuries, murky and unknowable as swamp waters, shaping and destroying lives. “Carter delivers. . . . [A] fusion of detective fiction and horror that is impossible to look away from.” —The New York Times Book Review Sarah Toomey is a successful young black lawyer...

Marghanita Laski’s novel Little Boy Lost is as enthralling as it is heart-wrenching. A man grapples with questions of emotional responsibility, fatherhood, and memory. Laski describes a much-changed France, struggling to rebuild its morale after the ruin caused by wartime bombing and...

You like it when the outlaws win? When survivors turn the tables on their abusers? Then this is a story you’ll love. Listeners will benefit from the full emotional impact of the story. How Wonder Woman Became a Smuggler is an adventure-fueled tale of a child coming of age in the midst of domestic violence to become an outlaw.

For fans of Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Miranda July comes a whip-smart, irresistible novel about a college senior who has 48 hours to sell her recently deceased mother's surprise stash of rare pills, or suffer the consequences. Arvy Keening is just trying to get through the week. Tantalizingly...

From an award-winning children's novelist, an adult debut about a grieving author who heads to rural England for a writer's retreat, only to stumble upon an incredible historical find. As the past and present collide, she'll discover the key to healing her trauma. Anna, a novelist based in...

"This is not just good storytelling, but a blueprint for survival." —The New York Times Book Review A transfixing and beautifully rendered novel about a refugee’s escape from civil war—and the healing power of community. A young woman sits in her apartment, watching the small daily dramas...