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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Its so crazy that something like this happened & for so long. Kudos to the authors for bringing those effected together & sharing their stories.
This is a follow-up book to Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. It is so awesome that Lisa and Judy embarked on this journey to write this book, and in the process assist some of the survivors of the Tennessee Children’s Home to reconnect with their family members.
The real life stories of the adoptees from the novel, Before We Were Yours. I couldn’t put down the novel, but the true stories of these children, were absolutely riveting! The courage the adoptees had, to search for their families, was remarkable!
This book is a great companion book to Before We Were Yours or stand alone read. Such varied stories of what happen to the TCHS children, but most of them are sorrowful with a surprising underlining of hope. The book wasn’t exactly what I expected. I was expecting just like a child’s story per chapter of what happened to them. This book seemed to be about about how a fictional book on a true event brought people together who were affected by this event, while also telling their stories. This book really can’t be fully digested in one sitting, but is also extremely hard to put down. Despite the sad topic there is just so much healing and hope to the story.
After I read before We Were Yours I saw this book and wanted to not only follow up on the story we read but learn more about the people that were involved in the adoptions. Thank you Lisa and Judy for taking on this challenge and sharing the stories with us. Thank you Ballantine books for publishing this closer book and believing in it for all of us. In my family my youngest brother was adopted and he and I spent many hours discussing how he felt about it. He loved my parents as his parents and was told from birth that he was selected and very special to them. When he would get mad at us girls he would say..haha they had to keep you they picked me and we would always laugh and tell him that cause he was “Special”. He said that he did always feel special and had no desire to find his real mother or any other siblings. After my mother died I asked him again if he wanted to contact his birth family and I would be willing to help him and go with him if they wanted to meet. He was lucky, he had his mothers name, knew where he was born, what he was named at birth but he still claimed he did not want to know.
Unfortunately, we lost my brother on September 12, 2020 and it is my hope that if his mother passed before him that they got to meet in heaven. I know that my parents and family were there to great him and I just hope that he still was happy with me as a sister when he passed. Unfortunately, I was not with him.
Reading this book by Judy Christie calmed some of my fears as there were children who were well taken care of and happy in their lives. I hurt for those who carry anger, grief and other feelings and have made sure I keep them in my prayers.
A good follow up book to Before We Were Yours. Loved the true stories.
“Before and After” was inspired by the numerous contacts Lisa Wingate received after writing “Before we were yours”, a historical fiction book about Georgia Tann and the Tennessee Children’s Home Society which sold “orphaned children” in the period from 1920 to 1950. “Before and After” recounts the stories of true life victims of Georgia Tann and how they sought out the truth of their adoptions. I would highly recommend reading “Before we were yours” before this one to learn about how this organization worked and how Tann was able to run her despicable adoption service for so long. The true stories that are revealed, one by one, as the authors’ plan a “reunion” of people who have sometimes met or talked and others who are strangers who share a similar history. I loved both books and highly recommend both!
Before and After was an overwhelmingly moving book. It is the true story of some of the victims of the children’s home in Tennessee that was introduced in the fictional novel Before We Were Yours. These victims came together and were connected to Lisa Wingate after they read Before We Were Yours or were told about it. This book is their stories about what they experienced and their journeys to find their biological family members years later. It is heartbreaking to think about what the woman who ran the children’s home did to the mothers and their children. Some of the mothers who lost their children had no other choice, some were tricked into giving up their children, and some had their children stolen. The people in this book are grateful to meet someone else who experienced what they did. They form friendships with the others.
Touching stories of those whose lives were altered by Georgia Tann and TCHS will leave you with tears in your eyes. I felt as though I got to know each of the people who shared their stories and memories. A beautifully crafted non-fiction that flows like a novel. Through “Before and After”, their legacies will live on forever.
This is a follow up book to her wonderful book Before We Were Yours which is a must read! This is a true account of a reunion of children based on the Georgia Tann scandle of which she stole children from parents and sold them under lies and deception.This does read like a documentary do it’s not going to be a fast read but you will find it interesting.
Great companion book to Lisa Wingate’s BEFORE WE WERE YOURS. Some of these stories are so sad, but they give such life to the real people behind Wingate’s book. Highly recommended.
Before and After was a book that was hard to read but also hard to put down. Hard to read because it told the stories of some of the children who lived at the Tennessee Children’s Home Society and the hard lives that they lived there. But it was also hard to put down because I became so involved in those lives that I had to find out what happened to them as they got older.
I read Lisa’ book, Before We Were Yours and loved it! Before and After touches on some of the real-life stories of the children who were affected by living at the Tennessee Children’s Home Society—stories that are both heartbreaking and touching. It was amazing to me, and I’m sure to Lisa Wingate as well, the response her book got from the children, now adults, who lived in this home, sometimes wrenched away from their families.
Before and After brings some of those children and their families together so they can get some closure on that time in their lives and move on. What a beautiful thing it would have been to witness these reunions. This truly is an amazing story!
Moving….
This pulls at your heartstrings! Quite an insight to how one woman can change the life of generations. Very well written and with such compassion from the author!
Real-life stories of the orphans and their families who were affected by Georgia Tann and the Tennessee Children’s Home Society. Some stories are sadder than others, but all are still beautifully and respectfully told by the authors. Very well done!
After reading Lisa Wingate’s Before We Were Yours, a moving story based on the tragic real-life Tennessee Children’s Home Society adoption scheme headed by Georgia Tann, I was very interested in reading more about the adoptees. Before and After is a nonfiction account of some of the victims of Tann’s greed and corruption. It was interesting to read their stories and thoughts about their lives and how they were affected by the adoptions. Many of them were able to connect with siblings and other members of their birth families with varying results.
The book is well written and kept my interest throughout. It’s a fitting and touching follow-up to Wingate’s story.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Before and After is a true account about the Tennessee Children’s Home Society that Lisa Wingate wrote about in her historical novel, Before We Were Yours. Judy Christie did a masterful job of interviewing the remaining now grown children who lived through the evil Georgia Tann’s stealing of babies and children. Lisa’s novel touched the hearts of some of the surviving children and they in turn reached out to Lisa asking if she would facilitate and reunion of survivors. Brings to light how tragic the buying and selling of children is.
Lisa Wingate’s best-selling novel Before We Were Yours touched so many lives and struck a chord in so many hearts but apparently none more than the true victims of the infamous Tennessee Children’s Home Society scandal. From the many, many responses Wingate received from adoptees and their families, she realized that it was so much more than a novel – it was the story of people’s lives and it too needed to be told.
I was already a huge fan of Lisa Wingate when I read Before We Were Yours so it was a given that I would read and enjoy it. I have lived in the Memphis area my entire life and I too have a family member who may have been one of the Tann children but he and anyone who would know the truth are no longer alive. The only hint was a conversation my mother overheard when she was a child so his story will always remain a mystery.
Before and After is the non-fiction account of true stories of a few of the actual victims who contacted Lisa Wingate or her friend Judy Christie, an author and journalist who helped organize a reunion of TCHS victims and compiled most of the stories related to her by these men and women.
It is a sad truth that many of the stolen children actually grew up in a better environment with more opportunities in life than they would have had with their birth families. Yet regardless of their improved circumstances, almost every one of these children spent their life feeling that they didn’t fit in or that something was missing. Reading their stories was a touching and eye-opening experience that made me question whether even legitimate adoptions leave the children wondering about their true identities.
The era of the Georgia Tann and TCHS black-market baby business in Memphis was truly a tragic mark on the city’s history. It also left indelible marks on the lives of so many children and their birth families. I can’t help but think of the current epidemic of human trafficking that is being experienced by families all over our country, indeed the entire world. I pray that God will send his people to put a stop to this disgrace quickly.
I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by the authors. A favorable review was not required. All views expressed are my own.
You will be moved to tears, overcome with emotion, and at times feel a bit of rage as you read through these stories of the survivors of the system of political crookedness. It’s difficult to read or understand how humanity can stoop so low and go so far unchecked and unattended as lives are destroyed. It’s also interesting to read how God can take the most tragic circumstances and many times turn them into something positive and good for those who believe. In a way it reminds me of the story of Joseph, although who sold into slavery as a young man, held tight to his faith, until God turned his circumstances around for good! Has any good been brought out of all this? Only God really knows, but one thing is for sure, there is a lesson here to be learned about too much power and control in the hands of the wrong people, about love and forgiveness for those who are able to find it in their hearts to forgive. Will justice every truly be served…
One thing is for certain, this book, these stories shared, are eye opening. They are reminders not to forget, to honor those who have struggled, suffered and experienced heartache. To do our best to prevent this from happening again.
Thank you Lisa and Judy for writing this story! Thank you to those who shared their stories so we could be more informed. Thank you to Ballentine Books for publishing these stories. I received a copy of this book courtesy of the author and publisher. I was not asked to review positively and all opinions are my own.
Lisa Wingate’s #1 New York Times bestselling novel Before We Were Yours brought worldwide attention to a shocking scandal of lost and stolen children. What she couldn’t know was that her novel would also become the catalyst for survivors, now in old age, to share their stories. Before and After, while at times a very sad and shocking read, is ultimately a collection of astonishing real-life stories of strength, hope, and resilience in the face of the cruelest circumstances. If you read Before We Were Yours, you will devour Before and After.