Florida South

Tananarive Due’s The Reformatory is a harrowing, skillfully crafted novel that I’m still thinking about long after the final page—both as a horror story and as a searing indictment of the brutal realities of the Jim Crow South. It is an unflinching blend of historical fiction, horror, and social commentary, exposing the evils of systemic racism through the eyes of twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens Jr., a boy whose only crime is defending his sister.