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The Reformatory

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The Reformatory

By: Tananarive Due
Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
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About this listen

"The Reformatory is one of those books you can't put down. Tananarive Due hit it out of the park."—Stephen King

A gloriously creepy Deep South horror story based on the infamous Dozier School for boys, perfect for fans of The Only Good Indians and Nothing But Blackened Teeth.

Jim Crow Florida, 1950.

Twelve-year-old Robert Stephens Jr., who for a trivial scuffle with a white boy is sent to The Gracetown School for Boys. But the segregated reformatory is a chamber of horrors, haunted by the boys that have died there.

In order to survive the school governor and his Funhouse, Robert must enlist the help of the school's ghosts–only they have their own motivations...

©2024 Tananarive Due (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio African American Historical Fiction Horror Scary Tear-jerking
All stars
Most relevant
Sad, chilling, all the feels. once you start,you won't want to stop.
loved the narrator.

Omg, what a great read

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One of the best books of American history written in a tale that has modern day tones of "How To Kill A Mockingbird" made me feel when I read it as an outraged teenager 35 years ago, sans the copious courtroom scemes. Fully fleshed out characters set amongst a horrific tale of fiction that devastatingly articulates a story that draws you in, makes you invest in the livrs of the protagonists, and cry as you listen to a story from a brilliant intelligent imagination that depicts another shameful chapter of America's history and one of the thousands of fictionalized real life stories depicting the inequality and racism that the foundation of modern day America is built upon. To the author I thank you for creating this story.

Must Read

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Brilliant, BRILLIANT story. This is a slow burn in the beginning, esp the first few chapters. Once you get get into life at the reformatory, the pace picks up, grips you and doesn’t let you go. I’ll be thinking about this one long after I’ve finished it. Narration took a little getting used to but I found that upping the speed helped and by the end I fell in love with her character voices. Phenomenal performance and writing. Cant believe this doesn’t have thousands of reviews.

Sublime amount of history, horror and heart.

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Heartbreaking, gripping from the start to the end. Great integration of historical fiction and horror, which is fitting.

Wow.

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I haven't read a book from start to finish in 20 years because of ADHD. Tananarive Due kept my attention the entire way through.

Tananarive Due demonstrates that you don't need to create fictional horrors when the real world and recent history are already full of them. The protagonists and their allies have depth and heart, something I so appreciate in thrillers. I'm not very good at writing reviews, so i'll just say this - I highly recommend The Reformatory.

Depth and heart

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