The Reformatory

I'd heard good things about this book going in, so wondered if it could live up to the hype but, within a short few pages, I was so totally sucked into the story that those fears were swiftly dispelled. It's a difficult read in places, eye opening for someone from the UK who doesn't understand the context of the Jim Crow United States as well as someone who lives there. But the characters provide just the right amount of light to keep you going through the incredible darkness of the tail.
The author's notes at the end, explaining the real… show more.

The atmosphere and the writer's ability to pull you in and tug at your heartstrings was truly astonishing. Because of the nature of the setting (Jim Crow Florida 1950) it absolutely horrified in the treatment of the children within the school. But the human spirit within the main characters to survive and overcome, that there was always hope, pulled you on, always rooting for them to come out on top.

A perfect read--well-drawn characters, a setting that was horrifying real, and a suspenseful story that easily kept me turning the pages. Add to these elements the fact that the book had a healthy dose of social commentary and I came away with an excellent read I'll remember for a long, long time.

In 1950s Florida, twelve-year-old Robert is sent to a reformatory for the “offense” of trying to defend his older sister, Gloria, when she is sexually harassed by a white man.

The author transports the reader to the Jim Crow South in which Gloria fights to free Robert, and he struggles to survive in a haunted reformatory run by sadistic racists.

I appreciated how the author infused life, hope, and compassion into her characters, keeping me in suspense while showing at a visceral level how slavery begot mass incarceration and human-caused terror trumped the supernatural.