The Nickel Boys

After the triumph of Underground Railroad, the new novel by Colson Whitehead. Florida, early 1960s. Sixteen-year-old Elwood lives with his grandmother in the Black ghetto of Tallahassee and is an admirer of Martin Luther King. When he gets a spot at college, it seems his dream of social change is coming true. However, by chance, he ends up in a stolen car and is locked away in the reform school Nickel Academy without due process. There, the boys are abused, tortured, and exploited. Once again, Whitehead exposes the deep-rooted racism and the unending trauma of American history. His novel, based on a true story, is a cry against injustice. With his sensitivity for literary texts, actor Torben Kessler interprets the story of the Nickel Boys Elwood and Turner with empathy yet unflinchingly.