The Reformatory
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Joniece Abbott-Pratt
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By:
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Tananarive Due
About this listen
*Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner * New York Times Notable Book * Locus Award Finalist * Winner of the Bram Stoker Award and the Shirley Jackson Award *
“You’re in for a treat...one of those books you can’t put down...Due hit it out of the park.” —Stephen King
A gripping “masterpiece” (Joe Hill, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman) set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephens Jr. as he’s sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead.
Gracetown, Florida
June 1950
Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory.
Robbie has a talent for seeing ghosts, or haints. But what was once a comfort to him after the loss of his mother has become a window to the truth of what happens at the reformatory. Boys forced to work to remediate their so-called crimes have gone missing, but the haints Robbie sees hint at worse things. Through his friends Redbone and Blue, Robbie is learning not just the rules but how to survive. Meanwhile, Gloria is rallying every family member and connection in Florida to find a way to get Robbie out before it’s too late.
The Reformatory is a haunting work of historical fiction written as only American Book Award–winning author Tananarive Due could, by piecing together the life of the relative her family never spoke of and bringing his tragedy and those of so many others at the infamous Dozier School for Boys to the light in this riveting novel.
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"Narrator Joniece Abbot-Prat voices Gloria’s strength and despair alongside her chilling performance of Robbie’s terror." (Matthew Galloway)
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- By wotsallthisthen on 04-07-24
By: George Orwell, and others
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The Art of War
- By: Sun Tzu
- Narrated by: Aidan Gillen
- Length: 1 hr and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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The 13 chapters of The Art of War, each devoted to one aspect of warfare, were compiled by the high-ranking Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher Sun-Tzu. In spite of its battlefield specificity, The Art of War has found new life in the modern age, with leaders in fields as wide and far-reaching as world politics, human psychology, and corporate strategy finding valuable insight in its timeworn words.
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The actual book The Art of War, not a commentary
- By Nemo71 on 12-31-19
By: Sun Tzu
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Dead Med
- By: Freida McFadden
- Narrated by: Patricia Santomasso, Scott Merriman
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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When Heather McKinley dreamed of becoming a doctor, she imagined curing sick kids and sporting pink stethoscopes. She never anticipated the sleepless nights, grueling exams, and endless labs. And she certainly never knew that her medical school earned the nickname Dead Med thanks to the tragic history of students overdosing on illegal drugs. But Heather would never consider doing anything like that. That is, until her longtime boyfriend dumps her, she finds herself failing anatomy, and her world starts to crumble.
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Hmm
- By Morgan Meaux on 08-22-24
By: Freida McFadden
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Starship Troopers
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Johnnie Rico never really intended to join up—and definitely not the infantry. But now that he’s in the thick of it, trying to get through combat training harder than anything he could have imagined, he knows everyone in his unit is one bad move away from buying the farm in the interstellar war the Terran Federation is waging against the Arachnids. Because everyone in the Mobile Infantry fights. And if the training doesn’t kill you, the Bugs are more than ready to finish the job.
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The definitive version!
- By Kristopher G. Hesson on 10-03-24
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Fahrenheit 451
- By: Ray Bradbury
- Narrated by: Tim Robbins
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television "family."
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Wish I Hadn't Cliff Noted This in High School
- By Joel on 03-27-17
By: Ray Bradbury
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The Mistake
- By: K. L. Slater
- Narrated by: Lucy Price-Lewis
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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You think you know the truth about the people you love. But one discovery can change everything.... Eight-year-old Billy goes missing one day, out flying his kite with his sister Rose. Two days later he is found dead. Sixteen years on, Rose still blames herself for Billy's death. How could she have failed to protect her little brother? Rose has never fully recovered from the trauma, and one of the few people she trusts is her neighbour Ronnie, who she has known all her life.
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How much do we really know about the ones we love?
- By T. West on 12-03-17
By: K. L. Slater
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Brain Damage
- By: Freida McFadden
- Narrated by: Megan Tusing
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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As Charly struggles to recover from her brain injury, she begins to realize that the events of that fateful night are trapped in the damaged right side of her brain. Now, she must put the jigsaw pieces together to discover the identity of the man who tried to kill her...before he finishes the job he started.
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Who Else Laughed, Cried, and Shuddered?
- By Jennifer Chichester on 09-16-22
By: Freida McFadden
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Mary Jane
- By: Amy Herzog
- Narrated by: Rachel McAdams, April Matthis, Brenda Wehle, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 16 mins
- Original Recording
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Academy Award nominee Rachel McAdams stars in Mary Jane, a poignant and intimate drama following a single mother’s journey caring for her chronically ill young son. Set in New York City, the play unfolds in two parts—Mary Jane's small Queens apartment and a pediatric hospital. With unflinching honesty and unexpected humor, we witness Mary Jane's tireless devotion, her interactions with medical professionals, and her struggle to maintain her sense of self.
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Amazing performance
- By Andrew Reynolds on 12-28-24
By: Amy Herzog
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Ghost Stories: Stephen Fry's Definitive Collection
- By: Stephen Fry, Washington Irving, M.R. James, and others
- Narrated by: Stephen Fry
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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As the days grow shorter and the temperature drops, Halloween approaches. Come, brave listener, pull up a chair, and spend some time with master storyteller Stephen Fry as he tells us some of his favourite ghost stories of all time, in truly terrifying spatial audio. From the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow to the tortured spirits of M.R. James, from Edgar Allan Poe’s terrifying tale of a doppelganger to Charlotte Riddell’s Open Door that should definitely stay shut, join Stephen as he tells you some truly terrifying tales.
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Wonderful narration. Mediocre stories.
- By Michael Fuchs on 11-07-23
By: Stephen Fry, and others
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Fascinating spot on insight about motherhood.
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Loved these stories!
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I finished with a headache! 🤯😱😭🤕
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Hannah is having a bad day. A bad month. A bad year? That feels terrible to admit, since her son Jack was born just eight months ago and she loves him more than anything. But ever since his harrowing birth, she can’t shake the feeling that it could have gone the other way. That her baby might not have made it. Terrifying visions of the different paths her life could have taken begin to disrupt her cozy, claustrophobic days with Jack, destabilizing her marriage and making her husband concerned for her mental health.
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Fascinating spot on insight about motherhood.
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Tangled Earbuds 58
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Home alone with her young children during a blizzard, a mother tucks her son back into bed in the middle of the night. She hears a noise—old houses are always making some kind of noise. But this sound is disturbingly familiar: it’s the tread of footsteps, unusually heavy and slow, coming up the stairs. Shrouded in the shadows, she sees the figure of a man appear down the hallway. Terrified, she quietly wakes her children and hustles them into the oldest part of the house, a tiny, secret room concealed behind a wall.
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Opening was grabbing
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Child’s voice narrates the ENTIRE novel.
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It’s autumn in the town of Harrow, but something besides the season is changing there. Because in that town there is an orchard, and in that orchard, seven most unusual trees. And from those trees grows a new sort of apple: strange, beautiful, with skin so red it’s nearly black. Take a bite of one of these apples, and you will desire only to devour another. And another. You will become stronger. More vital. More yourself, you will believe. But then your appetite for the apples and their peculiar gifts will keep growing—and become darker.
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Points for originality but…
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Smartly done and well written.
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Suffer the Children presents a terrifying tale of apocalyptic fiction, as listeners are introduced to Herod's Syndrome, a devastating illness that suddenly and swiftly kills all young children across the globe. Soon, they return from the grave, and ask for blood. And with blood, they stop being dead. They continue to remain the children they once were, but only for a short time, as they need more blood to live. The average human body holds 10 pints of blood, so the inevitable question for parents everywhere becomes: How far would you go to bring your child back?
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Brilliant, Well Done!!!!!
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In Joplin's Ghost, 24-year-old R&B phenomenon Phoenix Smalls is on the cusp of fame and fortune. But she is haunted by the spirit of Jazz legend Scott Joplin. After a series of sultry, erotic encounters with the ghost, and with the pressures of stardom closing in on her, Phoenix begins to fear for her life and career.
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Sweeping--a fabulous read
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Boring….
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Strange Sally Diamond
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Reclusive Sally Diamond is thrust into the media spotlight when she tries to incinerate her dead father, causing widespread outrage. Now she’s the center of attention, not only from hungry reporters and police detectives, but also a sinister voice from a past she does not remember. As she begins to discover the repressed memories of her horrific early childhood, Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends, big decisions, and learning that people don’t always mean what they say.
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Kept me listening.
- By Amazon Customer on 11-06-23
By: Liz Nugent
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We Used to Live Here
- A Novel
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As a young, queer couple who flip houses, Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they’ve just gotten on an old house in a picturesque neighborhood. As they’re working in the house one day, there’s a knock on the door. A man stands there with his family, claiming to have lived there years before and asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around. People pleaser to a fault, Eve lets them in. As soon as the strangers enter their home, uncanny and inexplicable things start happening.
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Great Start!
- By Madeline on 08-16-24
By: Marcus Kliewer
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Looking Glass Sound
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In a cottage overlooking the windswept Maine coast, Wilder Harlow has begun the last book he will ever write. It is the story about the sun-drenched summer days of his youth in Whistler Bay, and the blood-stained path of the killer that stalked his small vacation town. About the terrible secret he and his companions, Nat and Harper, discovered entombed in the coves off the bay. And how the pact they swore that day echoed down the decades, forever shaping their lives.
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meta fiction on steroids
- By Barbara S on 08-19-23
By: Catriona Ward
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Maeve Fly
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By day, Maeve Fly works at the happiest place in the world as every child’s favorite ice princess. By the neon night glow of the Sunset Strip, Maeve haunts the dive bars with a drink in one hand and a book in the other, imitating her misanthropic literary heroes. But when Gideon Green—her best friend’s brother—moves to town, he awakens something dangerous within her, and the world she knows suddenly shifts beneath her feet. Untethered, Maeve ditches her discontented act and tries on a new persona.
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femme fatale meets psycho killer
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What listeners say about The Reformatory
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- Douglas
- 12-15-23
Narrator
Very well written and narrated. Miss Due did a fantastic job again. I love her work. Although this is fiction it really makes one think about the terrible way we treated our fellow humans.
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- Patti R
- 12-05-23
Sad but true
This was a great read made me a little bit sad not a little bit a lot sad and then changed over to angst
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- HR
- 01-09-24
compelling storytelling in all aspects
I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and wonderful storytelling, the writing and plot, and the many twists,
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- Doug and Shelley Johansen
- 01-10-24
Perseverance of charaters
Great story....the ghosties seemed such a real possibility. Sad to imagine that many parts of this story could very possibly be non fiction!
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- Tracy
- 12-31-23
This Is What Horror Should Be
This is rounded up from 4.5 stars, but I won't deny the novel a five-star review because ultimately it is a brilliant piece that explores important themes. It is clear that Tananarive Due is a teacher, as The Reformatory is a shining example of how effectively we can learn through fiction--even if we're reading about topics we'd rather not learn about--notably, the horrors that humanity is capable of. Horror is the perfect genre to capture these themes, as it forces us to consider what we really should be scared of--the supernatural world or the evil that can exist in our everyday world right under our noses without us ever even thinking much about it. I truly hope this book becomes a classic of the genre.
That said, I did have some complaints, particularly through the middle section, which could have been a lot shorter. I wanted to be as captivated by Gloria's story as I was by Robbie's because I know that her perspective is an essential element of the story; I found it hard to care about her character, though, and was always itching to get back to Robbie. Gloria is the type of protagonist that I least enjoy in fiction--The Teenager Who Thinks They Know Better. Many of Gloria's POV chapters felt to me like Gloria seeking help everywhere she could, and then immediately second-guessing the help she is given because she doesn't actually listen to ANYBODY, not even the lawyer she recruits to help her. Much of the conflict within the novel is driven by Gloria's inability to LISTEN and LEARN, which is incredibly frustrating for me as a reader, and encountering this type of reactionary character is one of the main reasons I avoid YA in general. Also, one of my least favorite tropes in horror is one I'll call the Lack of Urgency. If a book has created enough tension to trigger my fight or flight response, then I want the characters to haul ass, not stand around being sad or asking dumb questions. This happens far too often in this book, and it always feels to me like a cheap way to amp up tension.
I know these are minor issues to an otherwise marvelous book, but they did cause me a lot of frustration as I was reading, so it felt worth mentioning. Still a huge fan! This is also the second book I've read recently with this narrator, and she does a terrific job. Her accents throughout this audiobook were spot-on and added significantly to my enjoyment of the story.
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- Anonymous User
- 01-07-24
This is the first review I’ve left on Audible, and for good reason.
This is the best book I’ve read/ listened to in I don’t even know how long. The story, the topics, the execution of it all, it’s a masterpiece. I would love to see a television adaptation of it, but at the same time the book itself is something you won’t find elsewhere.
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- L. “Kowan” May
- 01-02-24
Horror Down South
Wow! This is a very good read. It’s performed beautifully. You can imagine everything as the story unfolded. The author in a league with Stephen King.
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- Jo Hanson
- 12-23-23
so close to studying of the history and the wrong justice is practically
I don't see anything wrong with it good book. I don't have anything else to add
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- Kid + Dad
- 03-18-24
Loved it!
This was my first venture into Due's writing and I was hooked the entire time. Sometimes heart wrenching, sometimes creepy. I'll be checking plenty more out from this author. Personal best read of the year.
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- lindsey
- 04-15-24
Just get it
Where do I begin? The beauty of the writing juxtaposed to the horror of the story was an incredible feat. I am always so unsure of whether I should purchase a physical copy or listen to the audiobook when I am really looking forward to a new book, I took a chance and listened on audible for this one and I am SO GLAD I did: I love this narrator, she brought such a life and voice to the depth of each character, a truly brilliant narration. I found myself screaming and talking out loud toward the conclusion, simultaneously needing the conclusion and wanting it to never end. I will think about these characters long after finishing and even though my TBR is a mile long, I have to read another Tananarive Due right away
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