Island of Lost Youth

“Every day changes him a little more — and the boy who arrived slowly disappears.”

Fifteen-year-old Alex Sutton never imagined that one bad decision — and a long line of smaller ones — would send him to a juvenile reform school on a remote island off the coast of Maine. The staff call it The Farm. Surrounded by freezing ocean, concrete dormitories, and boys who have learned that weakness has a price, Alex is forced to grow up faster than anyone should. As the months turn into years, he learns the island's unwritten rules: when to stand his ground, when to keep his mouth shut, and when kindness can be more dangerous than a fist. Every friendship has a cost. Every weakness is noticed. And the boy who arrived slowly disappears behind someone harder — someone the island names Kramer. Based on true events, Island of Lost Youth is a haunting coming-of-age story about survival, the loss of innocence, and the discovery that leaving Kramer behind will be much harder than the struggle just to make it home.

Based on true events.