Publisher's Synopsis
Tallahassee, Florida, 1960s: Brought up by his loving, strict and clear-sighted grandmother, Elwood Curtis is about to enroll at the local black college. But one innocent mistake is enough to destroy his future, and so Elwood arrives instead at the Nickel Academy, which claims to provide training for its inmates to become "honorable and honest men". In reality, the Nickel Academy is a chamber of horrors, where abuse is rife. Stunned to find himself in this vicious environment, Elwood attempts to live by Dr. Martin Luther King's assertion, "Throw us in jail and we will still love you." But his new friend Turner believes the only way to survive is to emulate the cruelty of their oppressors. The tension between Elwood's idealism and Turner's skepticism leads to a decision that will have decades-long repercussions...
