the nickel boys

The Nickel Boys is available in hardcover and paperback formats, including a large-print paperback edition.

Page counts vary by edition: 208 pages, 224 pages, and 352 pages.

Dimensions and weight vary by edition. Heights range from 7.9–8.3 inches, widths from 5.1–5.8 inches, depths from 0.7–1.3 inches, and weights from 0.5–0.9 pounds.

The novel follows two teenagers who are unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy and traces the consequences of their time there. It is set in 1960s Florida.

The editions list a suggested age of “22 Years and Up.”

The novel is inspired by and based on a real reform school that operated for 111 years; that history is used to shape the book’s fictional narrative.

Reviewer quotes describe the prose as meticulous, elegant, and direct. The tone is frequently called powerful, haunting, devastating, illuminating, and occasionally darkly humorous.