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The Reformatory cover art

The Reformatory

Written by: Tananarive Due
Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
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Publisher's Summary

A gripping novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephens Jr. as he’s sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead.

Gracetown, Florida

June 1950

Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory.

Robbie has a talent for seeing ghosts, or haints. But what was once a comfort to him after the loss of his mother has become a window to the truth of what happens at the reformatory. Boys forced to work to remediate their so-called crimes have gone missing, but the haints Robbie sees hint at worse things. Through his friends Redbone and Blue, Robbie is learning not just the rules but how to survive. Meanwhile, Gloria is rallying every family member and connection in Florida to find a way to get Robbie out before it’s too late.

The Reformatory is a haunting work of historical fiction written as only American Book Award-winning author Tananarive Due could, by piecing together the life of the relative her family never spoke of and bringing his tragedy and those of so many others at the infamous Dozier School for Boys to the light in this riveting novel.

©2023 Tananarive Due (P)2023 Simon & Schuster Audio

What the critics say

A New York Times Notable Book

“You’re in for a treat. The Reformatory is one of those books you can’t put down. Tananarive Due hit it out of the park.” —Stephen King

What listeners say about The Reformatory

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  • 2024-01-16

Two horror stories in one

Completely submerged in the characters , 50s culture, location, haints, visions and the horrors of being black in the 50s. Narrator is perfect.

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Must Read!

The story is well written and keeps moving with no slow areas and the narrator was perfect. This is a must read/listen!

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Absolutely beautiful gut destroyingly beautiful

This is the saddest, most beautiful story I've ever listened to. Highly recommend this book. The characters are amazing, people have dragged it as too long, I don't think that at all, it's the exact right length.

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