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The Reformatory: A Novel Audiobook
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Publisher Description
A gripping novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephens Jr. as he is 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.
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“Joniece Abbott–Pratt masterfully re-creates a 1950s Florida reformatory in this story…Abbott–Pratt expertly portrays the story’s crushing atmosphere, as well as fearless Gloria, terrified boys, and, most movingly, the “haints”—ghosts of dead boys…Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile
Quotes
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“One of the best novels published in 2023. A superb mix of literary fiction, horror, and historical fiction.”
— NPR -
“Due ratchets up the tension until the final, extraordinary showdown.”
— Booklist (starred review) -
“The characters are given a nuance and depth rarely seen… A masterpiece of fiction.”
— Library Journal (starred review) -
“A vividly realized page-turner, which is at once an ingenious ghost story, a white-knuckle adventure, and an illuminating if infuriating look back at a shameful period in American jurisprudence.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review) -
“A masterpiece—a new American classic of the uncanny. I was gripped from the first lines to the catch-your-breath desperation of the final pages.”
— Joe Hill, #1 New York Times bestselling author
Awards
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Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
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A BookPage Top Pick of the Month
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An Amazon Editor’s Top Pick in Mystery, Thrillers & Suspense
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About Tananarive Due
Tananarive Due is a former features writer and columnist for the Miami Herald. She has written two highly acclaimed novels, The Between and My Soul to Keep. Ms. Due makes her home in Longview, Washington.
About Joniece Abbott-Pratt
Joniece Abbott-Pratt has narrated many audiobooks for children, young adults, and adults. She has won several AudioFile Earphones Awards and in 2021 was a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for Best Fantasy Narration. She earned an MFA degree in acting from the University of Iowa and has performed on regional theater stages across the country, including the Public Theater in New York City. She has also appeared on television shows, including The Good Fight, Law and Order: SVU, Luke Cage, and Orange Is the New Black, and has voiced commercials and projects for US Bank, Johnson & Johnson, and others.