Book Review: The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

BOOK DESCRIPTION

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.

BOOK REVIEW

In Florida, 1950, Robert and Gloria’s father is chased out of town on false charges, but his real “crime” was asking for better pay and conditions for African American workers. Their mother has already died of cancer, so they are left in the care of an elderly friend. Then while protecting his sister, Robert kicks the privileged son of the McCormacks, who are wealthy and powerful landowners. With the bang of a gavel, Robert is sent to The Gracetown School for Boys, a strict reform school. This is a place of death, torture, and pain, especially if you are not white. And it is also full of ghosts, or “haints.” Robert’s not the only one who can see the haints, but he can see them better than most, a gift he will soon regret. Meanwhile on the outside, Gloria is desperately working for his release.

This is a heart-wrenching novel with a paranormal twist. The saddest and most horrible fact is that this school is based on a school of another name that actually operated in Florida. The evil that exists in the school is powerfully portrayed through both man and spirit. The fate of many of the young boys who were tortured and killed will leave the reader in tears. The paranormal twist brings the deaths to the forefront in a strong and unforgettable way. Gloria’s role as Robert’s constant who will never give up shines through in a light of hope, as does another special character Robert sees in the school. The evil is personified in so many people, and not just murderers, but racists, corrupt judges, and those who shrugged and looked the other way. It is a well-written but deeply horrifying novel that the reader will not, and should not, forget.

I received a free copy of this book from the publishers via The Historical Novel Society. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

TANANARIVE DUE (tah-nah-nah-REEVE doo) is an award-winning author who teaches Black Horror and Afrofuturism at UCLA. She is an executive producer on Shudder’s groundbreaking documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror. She and her husband/collaborator, Steven Barnes, wrote “A Small Town” for Season 2 of Jordan Peele’s “The Twilight Zone” on Paramount Plus, and two segments of Shudder’s anthology film Horror Noire. They also co-wrote their upcoming Black Horror graphic novel The Keeper, illustrated by Marco Finnegan. Due and Barnes co-host a podcast, “Lifewriting: Write for Your Life!”

A leading voice in Black speculative fiction for more than 20 years, Due has won an American Book Award, an NAACP Image Award, and a British Fantasy Award, and her writing has been included in best-of-the-year anthologies. Her books include Ghost Summer: Stories, My Soul to Keep, and The Good House. She and her late mother, civil rights activist Patricia Stephens Due, co-authored Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights. She and her husband live with their son, Jason.

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