Before We Were Yours

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Summary from Goodreads

Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge—until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents—but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility’s cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty.

Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome fiancé, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis, a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family’s long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption.

Based on one of America’s most notorious real-life scandals—in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country—Lisa Wingate’s riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong.

My Review

I had never heard of Georgia Tann or the terrible things she did before picking up this book. I was shocked that she was able to get away with kid napping and selling children for so long. It’s heartbreaking to read about, but it was interesting as well. Very well written story with characters I fell in love with and was really rooting for. I felt the author handled the telling of terrible wrongs very tastefully.

Age Recommendation: Harsh realities are presented though with taste. But I recommend this for adult readers.

Appropriateness: Good message, hard story. For some it might be too much and too emotional. But I found it disturbing without being traumatizing. And it is in the end a story of hope and happiness. Definitely full of book club discussion material.

Other Book Recommendations: If this book interests you then you might also want to read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, and The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

 

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