The Nickel Boys (Winner 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction): A Novel

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(as of Jan 18, 2026 03:48:36 UTC – Details)

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • This follow-up to The Underground Railroad brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys unjustly sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. • “One of the most gifted novelists in America today.” —NPR

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE NOMINATED FOR AN ACADEMY AWARD® FOR BEST PICTURE AND DIRECTED BY ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINEE RAMELL ROSS

When Elwood Curtis, a black boy growing up in 1960s Tallahassee, is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, he finds himself trapped in a grotesque chamber of horrors. Elwood’s only salvation is his friendship with fellow “delinquent” Turner, which deepens despite Turner’s conviction that Elwood is hopelessly naive, that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble. As life at the Academy becomes ever more perilous, the tension between Elwood’s ideals and Turner’s skepticism leads to a decision whose repercussions will echo down the decades.

Based on the real story of a reform school that operated for 111 years and warped the lives of thousands of children, The Nickel Boys is a devastating, driven narrative that showcases a great American novelist writing at the height of his powers and “should further cement Whitehead as one of his generation’s best” (Entertainment Weekly).

From the Publisher

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage
Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 30, 2020
Edition ‏ : ‎ Reprint
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0345804341
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0345804341
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.15 x 0.64 x 7.96 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #3,248 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #15 in Black & African American Historical Fiction (Books) #57 in Historical Thrillers (Books) #218 in Literary Fiction (Books)
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