Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

Before We Were Yours

by Lisa Wingate

THE BLOCKBUSTER HIT—Over two million copies sold! A New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly Bestseller
 
Look for Lisa Wingate’s powerful new historical novel, The Book of Lost Friends, available now! 

“Poignant, engrossing.”—People • “Lisa Wingate takes an almost unthinkable chapter in our nation’s history and weaves a tale of enduring power.”—Paula McLain

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.

Publishers Weekly’s #3 Longest-Running Bestseller of 2017 • Winner of the Southern Book Prize • If All Arkansas Read the Same Book Selection

Reviewed by kaliwinn on

5 of 5 stars

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My rating: 5/5

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This book had me laughing, crying, and overall emotional from start to finish! This was my first Lisa Wingate book, but it definitely made me want to read more. 

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Before We Were Yours is based on a true story of Georgia Tann and the Tennessee Children's Home that ran from the 1930s through 1950 when it was finally shut down. Tann was operating what, on the outside seemed to be a legitimate group home facility for children without biological families. However, Tann was actually stealing children away from their homes and selling them to wealthy families who wanted to adopt. 

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Wingate creates a compelling set of characters who experience the children's home, and through “time leaps” slowly reveals what truly happened to a family when the children were taken by Tann. The children Wingate created were fictional, however Georgia Tann was a central figure throughout the novel. 

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 31 August, 2020: Finished reading
  • 21 September, 2020: Reviewed