Westbrook

by Stokes William

At the tail end of the 1950s fourteen-year-old William Stokes was sentenced to Westbrook Farm Home for Boys after committing a series of petty crimes. At that time, Westbrook was the most feared institution for boys in the whole of Queensland – a brutal tyranny ruled by a sadistic warden, where boys laboured in the fields from dawn to dusk and where flogging was the answer for any misdemeanour, however minor. Inmates were systematically demeaned and cowed, in a regimen designed to break them.Stokes' story of his years at Westbrook catalogue the horrors endured by children and young adults at the hands of the authorities, and how they managed to survive. Stokes also reveals the damaged and broken lives that resulted, and how the repercussions continue to be felt by the boys and by society long after their original sentences were served.Brutally honest, disturbing and compelling, Westbrook will both inform and outrage readers.

432 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2010

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting but very dragged out in parts.

[Lyn Stapleton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Appalling book about the treatment of these young boys in this institution.
The book really could have been half the size as it dragged on quite a lot.

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book hard to put down once I started.
The absolute horror & mis-treatment that the boys in this book recieved will make you feel so many different emotions that it is hard to explain myself.
I can say I am completely & utterly glad there are none of these reformatories around now.
You will have to read it to believe it & I would definitely recommend you do read this book.

[Davida · Rating 4 out of 5]

So indicative of the institution, I knew one of the people in this book and he was portrayed exactly as he really was in real life. Such a sad situation.