The compelling, poignant true stories of victims of a notorious adoption scandal—some of whom learned the truth from Lisa Wingate’s bestselling novel Before We Were Yours and were reunited with birth family members as a result of its wide reach From the 1920s to 1950, Georgia Tann ran a black-market baby business at the Tennessee Children’s Home Society in Memphis. She offered up more than 5,000 … offered up more than 5,000 orphans tailored to the wish lists of eager parents—hiding the fact that many weren’t orphans at all, but stolen sons and daughters of poor families, desperate single mothers, and women told in maternity wards that their babies had died.
The publication of Lisa Wingate’s novel Before We Were Yours brought new awareness of Tann’s lucrative career in child trafficking. Adoptees who knew little about their pasts gained insight into the startling facts behind their family histories. Encouraged by their contact with Wingate and award-winning journalist Judy Christie, who documented the stories of fifteen adoptees in this book, many determined Tann survivors set out to trace their roots and find their birth families.
Before and After includes moving and sometimes shocking accounts of the ways in which adoptees were separated from their first families. Often raised as only children, many have joyfully reunited with siblings in the final decades of their lives. Christie and Wingate tell of first meetings that are all the sweeter and more intense for time missed and of families from very different social backgrounds reaching out to embrace better-late-than-never brothers, sisters, and cousins. In a poignant culmination of art meeting life, many of the long-silent victims of the tragically corrupt system return to Memphis with the authors to reclaim their stories at a Tennessee Children’s Home Society reunion . . . with extraordinary results.
Advance praise for Before and After
“In Before and After, authors Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate tackle the true stories behind Wingate’s blockbuster Before We Were Yours, of the orphans who survived the Tennessee Children’s Home Society. With a journalist’s keen eye and a novelist’s elegant prose, Christie and Wingate weave together the stories that inspired Before We Were Yours with the lives that were changed as a result of reading the novel. Readers will be educated, enlightened, and enraptured by this important and flawlessly executed book.”—Pam Jenoff, author of The Orphan’s Tale and The Lost Girls of Paris
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“This is a story that doesn’t have an ending. It never will.”
The enormity of scandal generated by Georgia Tann’s unscrupulous adoption practices in Memphis, Tennessee for nearly thirty years, left fragments of abandonment deeply rooted within the psyche of thousands of innocent children. Thousands. Could beauty possibly rise from among the ashes? This moving collection of personal recollections from those children, their children, their grandchildren, proves once again that truth can be stranger, and even more unbelievable, than fiction.
What began as an international bestseller by author Lisa Wingate, “Before We Were Yours” has become an impetus for reunions among dozens of family members; who once were declared “survivors” and have now become, as journalist and author Judy Christie so beautifully states, “these people are heroes”.
“The realities of what happened at the Tennessee Children’s Home Society are hard to contemplate, but they are necessary to revisit. The history we deny is the history we are most likely to repeat. ”
I received a copy of this book from the author and publisher. The opinions stated are entirely my own.
In Before and After, authors Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate tackle the true stories behind Wingate’s blockbuster Before We Were Yours, of the orphans who survived the Tennessee Children’s Home Society. With a journalist’s keen eye and a novelist’s elegant prose, Christie and Wingate weave together the stories that inspired Before We Were Yours with the lives that were changed as a result of reading the novel. Readers will be educated, enlightened, and enraptured by this important and flawlessly executed book.
I loved Lisa Wingate’s “Before We Were Yours”. Now she and Judy Christie have researched and recorded the real stories behind The Tennessee Children’s Home Society and the horrors of what happened there. An inspiring book about some of the real siblings who were adopted but found each other later in life. A wonderful read!
If you read and loved Lisa Wingate’s book, “Before We Were Yours”, this is a must read for you. It is a follow-up book that reveals the true stories of adoptees who contacted the author after reading her fictionalized account of one family’s search for family.
Judy Chirstie and Lisa Wingate did a marvelous job telling the stories with sensitivity and kindness. They present story after story of some of the last of the survivors of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society run by the notorious Georgia Tann. The stories will tug at your heart as you try to imagine the horrors those children experienced , and as they search for the answers to the question, “Who Am I”. You will rejoice with them as they meet other adoptees who suffered the similar fates and begin the journey of healing. For many of the children this meeting is the first time they have ever met another survivor of that orphanage. For many it is the first time they have fully disclosed their life story. Even to their own family.
Once I started reading the book, I could not put it down.
A special thank you to Random House and Net Galley for allowing me to preview this book. The book will be available Oct. 22, 2019.
#BeforeandAfter#NetGalley#Bookbub
I am absolutely horrified such a person as Georgia Tann existed. The pain suffered for generations is a tragedy. It’s also horrifying to think she was never officially brought to justice.
While I agree some children went on to live extraordinary lives it still doesn’t change how crudely they were adopted. I do believe you should have the right to your adoption records. I do not know much about adoptions but if there is one thing I hope is learned is that adoption facilities should get detailed health information of the families from the families for the children.
My eyes have been opened and my heart hurts for the Georgia Tann kids. Hopefully, nothing like this happens in the USA again.
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher, Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, through NetGalley. Any and all opinions expressed in the above review are entirely my own.
Fans who couldn’t get enough of Before We Were Yours will devour this book in a single sitting. In Before and After, Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate gracefully chronicle the experiences of survivors forever affected by a corrupt Tennessee orphanage, leading many to a life-altering reunion in search of healing… Not only a heart-wrenching and inspiring read but also a testament to the incredible power of storytelling.
This book deals with adoptions of many children who were taken from their parents without their consent, stolen from their homes or hospitals. Many were from unwed mothers who had no means to care for them. It’s a very emotionally charged true story of a woman who made herself wealthy from the unorthodox ways in which she adopted out these children. I was on the edge of my seat hoping for good outcomes for these children, possibly being reunited with their birth families at some point. To realize that this was happening right here in the U.S. was an outrage to me!
Kudos to Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate on the writing of this book. I read the 5 star book Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate earlier and was so happy to find out that Before and After had been written. Many thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read an arc of this book which is to published on 10/22/2019. I would suggest reading Before We Were Yours first, although this is a stand alone book. I gave this book a big 5 stars for all of the research done and the wonderful way it was all compiled to tell their real life stories.
The true stories behind the book “Before We Were Yours” by Lisa Wingate. Authors Lisa Wingate and Judy Christie share the heartbreaking truths of children who were used by the Tennessee Children’s Home Society and Georgia Tann.
Through research and conversations with family members of the TCHS children and at times, the actual children, truth is brought into the open.
My heart aches for each person affected by the deceit and greed involved in selling and buying children.
Thank you to Lisa and Judy for taking the time and effort to share about these children.
Excellent book.
I received a complimentary copy of the book from the authors. No review was required. # BeforeWeWereYours #BeforeAndAfter #LisaWingate #JudyChristie
If you read Before We Were Yours, theses are the real-life stories of the orphans stolen by Georgia Tann. A hard read at times, but a necessary one. I am grateful that these stories have been written down.
BEFORE AND AFTER is an immensely moving follow-up to the New York Times bestseller BEFORE WE WERE YOURS. These true chronicles of people who were victims of Georgia Tan, as told by collaborators Lisa Wingate and Judy Christie, will find a special place in your heart. Bravo, ladies! Well worth the read.
‘Tann’s empire at the Tennessee Children’s Home Society has been built with a combustible blend of desperate pregnant women, shattered children, vulnerable poverty-stricken families, eager adoptive parents, powerful politicians, ego, and greed.’
I read Lisa Wingate’s ‘Before We Were Yours’ and it impacted me deeply. Based on the facts of the cruel and devious Georgia Tann, who stole and adopted out over 5000 children between 1924-1950, it was a powerful book! After the book came out, many came forth because they knew they were part of that vicious story, taken from parents by Tann and sold to others, sometimes to a life of goodness and sometimes not. People began contacting Wingate about this and this book was born.
Based on the true stories of these people who were victims, for that’s what they can properly and truly be called, of Tann’s evil empire, they now tell their stories. Stories of how they always felt ‘something was missing’ and how they never felt totally complete. And then through the work of Wingate and Judy Christie, these people searched and found siblings they never knew they had!
Deeply moving and mind numbing, this book is a testament to the hearts of those that were abused so cruelly by a heinous woman whose crime rivaled that of any serial killer.
These stories will break your heart and bring joy at the same time. I was very moved by this book.
*My thanks to the publishers for a copy of this book via Net Galley. The opinions stated here are entirely my own.
“Before and After” is a follow to “Before We Were Yours” by authors Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate tells the story of Georgia Tann and her scandal with the black-market baby business at the Tennessee Children’s Home Society in Memphis. Tann talked mothers into giving up their babies permanently instead of putting them in foster care. Shame on Georgia and those associated with her that took part in a huge scandal that involved orphans who were tailored to the wish list of eager parents-those and hid the fact that many were not orphans at all, but stolen children of poor families, desperate single mothers, and women told in maternity words that their babies died. The children were stolen or kidnapped for Tann to sell them for profit.
I fell in love with each of the adoptees. It is beyond comprehension the lives affected by a woman who thought she was God and made money from her scheme. As I turned the last page of the book my heart felt heavy wondering how I could help. Lisa Wingate and Judy Christie did an outstanding job capturing the words and stories of all the families especially the four sisters. I highly recommend “Before and After.”
I received a copy of the book from the author’s in exchange for an honest review.
The book Before and After coauthored by Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate chronicles the lives of fifteen of the victims of the corrupt Tennessee Children’s Home Society. This black-market baby business run by Georgia Tann flourished during the period of time from the 1920s through 1950. After the publication of Lisa Wingate’s novel Before We Were Yours, the stories of the victims of this travesty began to emerge. More than five thousand children were affected by this lucrative scheme; many of the children were stolen from poor families, others were reported dead by hospitals, and still others were taken by misrepresentation from single mothers. Birth details and names were changed by Tann to circumvent detection. Children were placed in homes without any investigation or supervision; others died from neglect. However, survivors and their family members met at a reunion in Memphis with Lisa and Judy to share their experiences and seek additional answers to their questions. Even those children who had been placed in homes that were loving and safe still had questions. For example, one of the participants shared that “adopted children always have a piece of themselves missing,” and another claimed that “a life built on other people’s secrets brings on a feeling of not fitting.” After many of the participants had finally connected with their birth families and located missing siblings, one of them stated, “It was the first time I ever had seen anyone who looked like me.”
If you read the book by Lisa Wingate, Before We Were Yours, you MUST read this book. This is the book about the REAL victims of Georgia Tann. These are the stories told by the “survivors”, and I don’t use that word lightly especially when you meet Lillian in the book and hear her story! Many of the people in this book Lisa met at book reviews she was giving at libraries, book stores etc. They would raise their hands and say “I was an adoptee of Tann’s” or “My father or mother was an adoptee.” One gentleman asked Lisa to autograph his book as a dedication “For the brother that was stolen by Georgia Tann.” (That would get your attention.) Okay, by that point I am not just crying, I am full on sobbing.
This book tells the stories of people who came together for a weekend get together of orphans in order to meet each other and to tell their personal stories. Would I recommend this book, absolutely! Judy Christie who put the stories together and interviewed the people did an amazing first class job. Another NY Times Best Seller I’m sure!
I was given ARC for my honest review by Ballantine Books. Thank you.
After reading Before We Were Yours I wanted to read about the actual people who who were adopted out and/or found their siblings. I enjoyed reading about these families. There was a little too much information about planning the reunion but I would recommend it.
This was kind of boring especially compared to the original “Before we were yours.” This was just a series of stories told by those adoptee’s and how they found some records. It was very disjointed and just reporting, not relational.
Lisa and co-author tell the story of the real folks who were TCHS adoptees. Their search for identity, closure, and who they may have been if not for TCHS and Georgia Tann.
True stories from adoptees.
Excellent book about the children that were taken without permission or given to the Tennessee Children’s Home. These children grew up not knowing why they always felt like the odd one or different from those around them. They had a reunion of these adults- they learned about siblings and parents- extended family. I was overwhelmed with emotion at some of these stories. Some children were better off than they had been- coming out of poverty- But- it was so wrong on so many levels.It was a great reunion for a lot of people- but too late to meet parents and some siblings.
A must read!