An unflinching verse novel about a teenage boy who is sexually assaulted in an attack he struggles to remember.

Jay wakes in a park, beaten and bruised. He can’t remember what happened the night before. But he has suspicions.

Jay realises he has been raped — and that his ex-boyfriend may have been involved.

Counselling sessions cause Jay to question everything. His new friend Rain encourages his pursuit of justice. Jay wants answers, but his search will lead him down a perilous path.

Warning: sexual assault 

Little Island

TRIGGER is not an easy read by any means, definitely YA+, I read it in one sitting with my heart in my mouth. It is definitely one to spark conversations but also definitely one that requires talking about because it could bring up a lot of feelings for some readers. It ends with hope but isn’t unrealistic about how such a traumatic event affects a victim’s life in an ongoing way. If you’re feeling up to an emotional rollercoaster in verse, it is a gripping read!

I was given the opportunity to ask the author, C.G. Moore, a few questions:

Your very first novel was prose and then your second was verse, as is TRIGGER. What prompted you to try verse? How different is the process?

Both TRIGGER and GUT FEELINGS are deeply personal novels. When I was having a relaxing weekend in the Lake District, everything clicked into place and I started to write GUT FEELINGS it in verse. It was all very natural. Initially, I tried to write TRIGGER in prose but as someone who was a victim of sexual assault, I often felt like I couldn’t talk about it and there was shame attached to my experience (like I had brought it upon myself which is obviously not the case). I couldn’t find my voice in the moment so when approaching TRIGGER, it became clear that it needed to be in verse with each word carefully weighted. Writing in free verse is a massive challenge and it has its limitations but it makes you hyperaware of the words on the page and how they contribute to the plot, characterisation and narrative of the story.

Do you think you’ll only write in verse now or does it depend on what you’re writing about?

I have no plans to write in verse going forward although I am sure I’ll return to it at some point. With that said, I have a lot of ideas that play with form so we’ll see. For now though, I’m focused on prose.

TRIGGER is, unsurprisingly given the title, about a very emotive subject. How did you balance writing an impactful story with the potential for sensationalising or downplaying the ongoing impact of rape on the victim?

There are also different ways to approach subjects like this but I think that inferring the rape was more important than showing it and making it somewhat gratuitous. I wanted consent to be one of the key focuses of the story, and for the book to facilitate discussion and engagement around this. The main character’s – Jay’s – experiences are not my experiences. It was definitely a challenge tapping into the emotions of my past without letting those memories and experiences seep into my writing. One of the key messages I wanted readers to take away was to think about what consent means and how it might apply to them in their own lives. I was also conscious of the audience I was writing for and ensuring the reading experience allowed them to explore some issues that are often considered taboo, but doing so in a way that was sensitive and considered.

In your author’s note you mention that you had similar experiences yourself. Do you think that made it harder or easier to write this?

I think it was easier to write than GUT FEELINGS in some ways. I’d already written a verse novel and although I won the KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year Award, I didn’t feel any pressure or concern in being compared to GUT FEELINGS. I had a clear idea of Jay’s experience, what happened and how the story would turn out which made it easier to write.

Was the ending different when you first wrote it or did you know what you wanted to happen (if you can answer that without spoilers)?

The ending was always the same but I wrote Jay as having a gun but agents found it a bit sensationalist and unrealistic, and I agreed.

Who, do you think, is the target audience of TRIGGER?

I would say readers aged 13+ but although it’s considered Young Adult, it shouldn’t stop adults picking it up. I wrote in a way that could bridge that gap and appeal to both audiences without patronising teenage readers.

What are you working on at the moment?

I can’t say too much about it but it will definitely be told in prose. It’s a YA “coming out” story with a massive twist.

C. G. (or Chris) Moore is the published author of three books. His second book – Gut Feelings – explored his own experiences living with chronic illness and was nominated for the Yoto Carnegie Medal and won the KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year Award 2022. His new book – Trigger – is inspired by his own experiences of sexual assault and looks at consent. Chris has also contributed a poem to Our Rights – an anthology endorsed by Amnesty International. He previously taught on the BA and MA in Publishing programmes at the University of Central Lancashire. When Chris isn’t writing, he can be found walking his Jack Tzu, Lola, baking or caffeinating at his local coffee shop.