The Reformatory: A Novel

The Reformatory, published in 2023, is a historical horror novel by American author Tananarive Due. Inspired by her family history, Due drew from the story of a relative who died at the Dozier School for Boys in 1930s Florida. Interviews with a number of Dozier School survivors enabled her to create the titular institution for her novel. In 2024, The Reformatory was recognized for Superior Achievement in a Novel by the Bram Stoker Awards. It was also named the Los Angeles Times Book Prize winner and a Notable Book by The New York Times.

The novel revolves around a 12-year-old boy named Robert “Robbie” Stephens, Jr., who is sentenced to serve six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, more commonly known as the Reformatory. Robbie is sensitive to the ghosts, or “haints,” that haunt the school. This ability makes him valuable to the stern and often brutal superintendent, Fenton Haddock, who seeks to rid the Reformatory of the dark history that the haints threaten to reveal. Meanwhile, Robbie’s older sister, Gloria, exhausts all avenues to secure Robbie’s liberation, even if she must break him out before his time is up. The novel explores themes of The Racism of the American Criminal Justice System, The Struggle to Resolve the Past and Preserve the Present, and Turning to Community in Times of Trouble.

This guide refers to the first hardcover edition of the novel, published by Saga Press in 2023.

Content Warning: The source material for this study guide depicts the racism and violence characteristic of the Jim Crow era. The novel frequently references violence against children, child death and murder, institutional abuse, sexual harassment and abuse of minors, and offensive language, including the n-word. This study guide touches on all these topics.

Plot Summary

Twelve-year-old Robert “Robbie” Stephens, Jr., wants to see his late mother's ghost but is disappointed by his failure to engage with her spectral manifestations. One morning, he and his older sister, Gloria, are walking to school when Gloria is harassed by Lyle McCormack, whose family owns a nearby turpentine camp. Lyle pushes Robbie away so that he can talk to Gloria. When Robbie fights back, kicking Lyle in the knee, Lyle’s father, Red McCormack, hits Robbie in the head. The following morning, Robbie is arrested and brought to court, where the judge sentences him to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, also called the Reformatory.

Robbie is terrified by the stories of the Reformatory, which is rumored to be haunted by “haints,” the violent ghosts of boys who died at the school. Despite Gloria’s attempts to speak up for Robbie in court, he is transported to the Reformatory, where he makes the acquaintance of the school superintendent, Fenton J. Haddock. Robbie is assigned to kitchen duty with two other Black boys, who call themselves Redbone and Blue. Robbie asks his new friends about the school’s history, including prisoners who have attempted to escape in the past. Later that night, Redbone and Robbie are singled out by the cruel dorm master, Boone, for punishment at the Funhouse, a structure dedicated to lashing boys for their misconduct. Robbie is punished because he has been suspected of plotting an escape with Redbone.

Gloria exhausts multiple avenues to secure Robbie’s early release. She consults her employer, Miss Anne Powell, the daughter of a late councilman, who connects Gloria with her attorney-in-training and secret girlfriend, Channing Holt. Gloria’s father, Robert, advises her to consult John Dorsey and Harry T. Moore, lawyers at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Though John and Harry secure a meeting with the judge who handled Robbie’s case, the judge is reluctant to commute Robbie’s sentence. It becomes clear that top officials in Gracetown are using Robbie’s arrest to lure his father, Robert, a union organizer who has been falsely accused of raping a white woman.

When Boone informs Warden Haddock that Robbie has a gift for tracking haints, the warden tasks Robbie with working as Boone’s spotter, systematically ridding the prison of its haint population. Haddock wants to erase any evidence of his involvement in a 1920 fire that killed several boys. This motivation is kept secret from Robbie, who learns that one of the victims of this fire was Blue. Blue is furious that Robbie has started to trap the haints in Haddock’s ash jar. He asks Robbie to steal evidence of Haddock’s rapes and murders in exchange for help in securing his freedom.

The racist residents of Gracetown attempt to hunt down Gloria, hoping to use her as a further bargaining chip to draw out Robert. With no other avenues left, Gloria asks for the help of her closest family friends to organize an escape, breaking Robbie out of the Reformatory and reuniting him and Gloria with their father in Chicago. Gloria enlists the help of her godmother, Miz Lottie Powell, and Miz Lottie’s grandnephew, Uncle June, to provide Robbie with an escape route and getaway car.

Robbie shares his plan to escape with Redbone. Redbone suggests surrendering Blue to Boone to convince him and Haddock that Robbie is still on their side. When Robbie fails to catch another haint, Haddock and Boone punish Redbone, eventually killing him. Redbone’s death gives Robbie the resolve to carry out Blue’s plan. By the end of that week, Robbie steals the evidence of Haddock’s crimes and the haint jar, which he breaks over a running creek to release the spirits trapped inside. Haddock catches up to Robbie and threatens him at gunpoint. However, Blue and the other haints exact their revenge by convincing Haddock’s favorite bloodhound to kill him in the water.

Robbie and Gloria escape to Chicago with the evidence against Haddock. They reunite with their father, and when Robbie finally sees his mother’s ghost, he acknowledges all the good that the dead have done for him.