The Nickel Boys

Colson Whitehead, author of The Underground Railroad, masterfully dramatises a different aspect of American history by telling the tale of two boys who are taken to a terrible reform school in Florida in the 1960s.

Elwood Curtis has embraced the statement made by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I am as good as anybody." Elwood, who was raised by his grandmother—a loving, disciplined, and perceptive woman—after his parents abandoned him, is about to start college at the nearby black college. Elwood finds himself in The Nickel Academy, which purports to provide "physical, intellectual, and moral training" that would enable its prisoners to become "honourable and honest men," but given the circumstances, one careless error is enough to ruin his future.

The Nickel Academy is really a horrifying place where boys are abused physically, emotionally, and sexually, where dishonest administrators and businessmen profit handsomely from the sale of school supplies, and where any youngster who stands up will probably be chased "out back." Feeling shocked to be in such a harsh setting, Elwood clings to Dr. King's famous quote, "Throw us in jail, and we will still love you." Turner, Elwood's new companion and fellow prisoner, believes Turner is even more naïve than Elwood; he believes that the world is corrupt and that the only way to live is to imitate the brutality and cynicism of their rulers.

Turner's cynicism and Elwood's idealism clash, leading to a choice that will affect society for decades.

The Nickel Boys is a devastating, compelling story by a great American novelist whose work is essential to understanding the current reality of the United States. It is based on the history of a real reform school in Florida that operated for one hundred and eleven years and warped and destroyed the lives of thousands of children.