Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate | Published June 6th 2017 by Ballantine Books| 342 Pages | Goodreads

PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION

“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

REVIEW

BEFORE WE WERE YOURS is a historical fiction novel inspired by the real-life events surrounding the Tennessee’s Children Home activities during the 1920s and 1930s.

The story was captivating and emotional. Many children had been abducted from their families, unscrupulously taken to this home, and later sold to adoptive parents.

The novel takes place is Tennessee and is narrated by alternating characters and timelines. The first timeline is told from the point of view of a child in the 1930s, and the second timeline is told from the point of view of Avery, a woman in present times seeking answers about their family past.

Descriptive, engaging, and wonderful, I enjoyed this novel and highly recommend it to readers of historical and contemporary fiction.

✅ BOOK SOURCE AND FORMAT

Miami-Dade’s Library Overdrive, Audiobook