Book Club Guide

The Reformatory

by Tananarive Due · 2023 · Literary Fiction

Key themes

A real history of atrocity — boys who died and were buried in unmarked graves
Ghosts as witnesses — the dead who refuse to be erased
Jim Crow Florida and the specific danger of a single act of defiance

About this book

In 1950s Florida, twelve-year-old Robert is sent to a brutal reform school for boys after a single act of defiance — and discovers the school is haunted by the ghosts of boys who died there, killed by the staff and buried in unmarked graves. Due's Bram Stoker Award-winning novel is based on the real history of the Dozier School for Boys, using horror to confront a genuinely buried atrocity in American history.

Published in 2023, The Reformatory won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel. Due based it on the real Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Florida, where the remains of dozens of boys were discovered in unmarked graves starting in 2012. Due's own family has roots in the area.

Discussion questions

The novel is based on the real Dozier School for Boys, where remains of children were discovered in unmarked graves decades after the school closed. How does Due use fiction to address material that is also documented history — what does the novel form add to what's already known?
Robert can see the ghosts of boys who died at the school. How does Due develop this ability — as horror, as witness, as a form of justice the living legal system never provided?
The act that gets Robert sent to the reformatory is small — a moment of defiance against a white boy. How does Due develop the disproportion between the act and its consequences, and what does this say about Jim Crow-era power?
The novel is explicitly horror but is grounded in documented historical atrocity. How does Due balance the supernatural elements with the historical reality — does the horror genre help or complicate engagement with real suffering?
The Reformatory won the Bram Stoker Award. What does horror as a genre allow Due to do with this material that historical fiction or nonfiction might not?