The Reformatory is a bone-chillingly gripping and gut-punch of a story following a young boy sent to a segregated reform school in Jim Crow Florida. 

Gloria was supposed to look after her twelve year old little brother Robbie after their mom dies and their dad has to flee to Chicago. But when he kicks the son of the most powerful family in town (in her defense), he’s quickly sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys.

The moment he steps onto the reform school’s grounds, Robbie is surrounded by hauntings and haints. He learns about the horrible history of the institution, and has to do his best to survive the present. While Gloria does everything she can to free him from the outside, Robbie has to protect himself and his new friends from horrors in this world and beyond.

It’s more of a haunting historical fiction piece than a supernatural horror- there are endless horrors, but they lean devastatingly more into the truth of this place & time (Jim Crow systemic racism) than into ghosts and spooks and terror. While jumpscare-y at times, the haints are more lost and wandering and sad than ever truly frightening. 

Gloria and Robbie are so beautifully characterized, and knowing that they (as well as several other characters) are inspired by the author’s family history makes their burdens even harder to bear. Their details and the specific events of the book are fictional, but their spirits are most certainly real.

Gloria can’t stop herself from speaking up and trying to correct injustices, even though it lands her in peril again and again. She’s clever and resourceful and you feel her frustration and anger and despair as even her best-laid plans go wrong because of, well, 1950s Florida and the white supremacist system that is crafted to hold her down. 

And Robbie is so naive and still relatively bright-eyed at the start of the story. It hurts to watch him be forced to grow up at lightning speed and face trauma after trauma. If you’re dubious about the narration of a 12 year old, he is still pretty perceptive (sometimes the ghosts have to help him along) and has a strong moral compass that will make you want to stick in his head and pray he survives with as much of himself intact as possible.

The cast of supporting characters is excellent as well. Gloria’s community was so distinct and all of the different people in her circle were intriguing. She’s got a caring network of almost-family and people that are - thankfully - willing to fight with her. And where Robbie is a bit innocent, Gloria is much wiser and SO perceptive. It’s fascinating to see her break down even a minute facial expression and see the moment when a person reaches their breaking point. Gloria has some supernatural abilities as well (premonitions). But Gloria is also still a child, and still believes to an extent in justice and that she can do things while following the rules and have everything work out. I sort of wish she came to an understanding that that was impossible a bit sooner. 

There is a central antagonist (and he is RANCID), but it’s never unclear that he is just one player in this system. And getting rid of him would solve some immediate dangers, but isn’t a fix-it-all solution because it is truly the entire society that is harming them. 

There’s a lot of violent racism here, including murder, and child abuse in all forms. Make sure you’re in an okay space before reading.

Though this is a long read (nearly 600 pages), the pacing is excellent and it’s hard to stop turning pages. The most difficult part is, of course, the brutality and horror of the content. So while I was gripped, I had to take reading breaks in order to let myself process and take a few breaths outside of this world. I’m not sure we needed all of the length, either - it is a lot of graphic child torture.

You will be SWEATING nonstop. No character’s safety is guaranteed, and my mind was spinning and conjuring up different scenarios and hypotheticals and maybe daring to hope once or twice. 

I’m grateful for the ending we were given, but I don’t see the weight of this book leaving me for a long, long time. 

CW: murder (child), racism, lynching, slurs, child abuse, fire, torture, forced institutionalization, hate crime, rape, confinement, slavery, police brutality, pedophilia, blood, grief, bullying, gun violence, classism, gaslighting, body horror, vomit, cancer, terminal illness, abandonment, animal cruelty/death, sexism, antisemitism

Follow me on social media for book recommendations!

(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)