In this historical novel based on the horrors uncovered at a real reform school called the Dozier School for Boys, Colson Whitehead portrays the struggles endured by young inmates imprisoned at Nickel, a juvenile penal institution in Jim Crow-era Florida. Over the course of the narrative, The Nickel Boys depicts themes such as the costs of social progress, the United States's history of systemic oppression, and the psychological effects of childhood trauma.
