THE BLOCKBUSTER HIT—Over two million copies sold! A New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly Bestseller“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 … 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
“Sure to be one of the most compelling books you pick up this year. . . . Wingate is a master-storyteller, and you’ll find yourself pulled along as she reveals the wake of terror and heartache that is Georgia Tann’s legacy.”—Parade
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Once I started reading this book, I could not put it down. It was dramatic, suspenseful, and touching all at the same time, and I was incredibly invested in the characters. One of my favorite books of 2017! – USA Today bestselling author, Julianne MacLean
This is probably the best book I’ve read this year. So believable. The characters stay perfectly “in character.” So glad I downloaded it (Audible edition).
As an adoptee who searched for and found lost family, I had read some things about the infamous Georgia Tann and the Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanages. Lisa Wingate’s story brings these events to life through wonderful characters and a great story. By shifting back and forth between that time and the modern day, the author gives us breaks from the brutality and skillfully creates an ongoing mystery to connect the past with the present.
Imagine that someone snatches your young children, then sells them to another family. Sadly, this actually happened, and the woman who did it was considered to be an upstanding person who was helping young orphans find homes. Mixing fact with fiction, Lisa Wingate creates this compelling story of family in her bestselling novel, “Before We Were Yours.”
In the present day, when Avery Stafford tours a nursing home with her father, she is approached by an elderly woman who confuses her for someone else. Intrigued, Avery visits the woman again and sees a photo on her nightstand of a woman who looks like she could be a member of Avery’s family. Slowly, she unravels a family secret of a tragic past. But it’s that past that has made them who they are today.
Weaving the past in among the current day story, Wingate creates a spellbinding novel that is impossible to put down. Tragic, heart wrenching at times, and poignant, this is a story you will not soon forget.
Lisa Wingate captures the very soul of the loneliness of injustice in this book that should not be true, but is. She deft at bringing the reader into the experience of characters fighting to understand humanity at it’s worst and yet embrace when it is at its best. Bravo to a terrific story!
This terrific dual-timeframe novel introduced me to a piece of history I knew nothing about — the lives of children who were stolen and put up for adoption by the Tennessee Children’s Home. Wingate does a great job with her research and takes a fictional story and makes it feel real. Lots to discuss in this novel.
This story will hold you captive until the very last page. It is the heart-wrenching tale about a family of children, who became the victims of the notorious Georgia Tann and the Tennessee Valley Adoption scandal. It will touch your heart in a way that it almost unforgettable. Although these are fictional characters, there is so much historical fact woven through the story that you will find yourself believing every word. For me this was a highly memorable novel.
I loved this emotional, haunting book by Lisa Wingate. I’m still thinking about it after reading the last page and know it’s not going to leave my mind for a long time. Thank you, Lisa, for such a wonderful story.
Spellbinding page turner, lyrical prose, almost unbelievably linked to true history. This story will grab your heart, raise your temperature and make you want to hold your loved ones ever so close.
I was emotionally spent by the time I reached the end of this amazing book. I haven’t enough superlatives in my vocabulary to list all that was good about it. The author’s words painted such a canvas for me to experience. I listened to the audiobook, and so I was often looking at the cover as I learned the story of the Foss children. And that cover with those two little girls with their backs to me—Rill’s braid and Fern’s curls—almost broke my heart. The author completely surprised me with Judy Stafford’s relationship with Rill. And because my own mother suffered with dementia at the end of her life, I related with Avery as she tried to piece together a mystery from the past. I can see why this book was a runaway bestseller in 2017. Do not miss it.
Review Really compelling story that lived up to its hype. I had no idea about the history behind this and am shocked that people can be so cruel. The writing was terrific. There were a lot of characters to keep up with, though, and given that many of the characters were also renamed in the book, I had to slow my pace to make sure I was definitely understanding as I went along. But – that aside, and I understand why it had to be that way – it had all the feels, as they say, and I would definitely look for more by this author.
This is my first read by Lisa Wingate. I loved this book for many reasons. One was the characters were layered, unique, and compelling to read about. Two, I love a gritty story about sad things that have distinct lines of hope peeking though from beginning to end. It featured my favorite dual-plotline structure and one storyline fed the other, keeping me turning the pages. We forget how difficult life can be for people, but especially how hard life is during chronic crises eras like the depression. Wingate veiled the whole story in a time gone by, never heavy-handed with facts at the expense of story. Reading about this family, their trials and achievements was heart-wrenching and heart-warming. Understanding that certain elements of this tale were rooted in true events made it even more compelling. Just a great, great read.
This book is an amazing book. If you read it without it touching your heart, you don’t have a heart. I laughed. I cried. I thank Lisa Wingate for the story with strong characters and a storyline that brought the tears. I’ve loved every Lisa Wingate book that I’ve read.
Excellent writing! I couldn’t put it down. It was the first book I’d read by Lisa Wingate, although later I began ordering more of her novels.
A fabulous book based on history. Hard to believe such an orphanage existed in Tenn. A hauntingly tragic story of children snatched from families to be rehomed to the rich and famous for a large amount of money.
Occasionally I read a book that so moves me, I’m barely able to get the story out of my mind. BEFORE WE WERE YOURS is one of those. There is a reason this book has been on the New York Times Bestseller list week-after-week. Stunning story told by a very talented author. I urge anyone who has not picked up a copy to hurry to your favorite retailer and do yourself a favor . . . buy this book and ENJOY!
Illuminating, eloquently-written, & very absorbing. This dual-story book enlightened me about a dark, true story in America’s past while lifting me up with a present-day protagonist who searches for the answers to family secrets and the deeper longings of her own heart.
The plot based on a dark historical period of a network of orphanages that kidnapped children from disadvantaged families and sold them to families with money. The plot is reminiscent of Orphan Train, which dealt with orphans who were sent by train from New York to other places, to be handed over to foster families or transferred to families who saw them as cheap labor to maintain their homes.
Lisa Wingate’s writing is simple and touching. The book arranged in short chapters and alternately interwoven between past and present. Both periods are fascinating, exciting and sweeping.
I couldn’t remove the book of my hands. From the time I started to read I drawn to it.
Very well written account of a heartbreaking family situation made even more disturbing by interference of society’s well-intentioned but tragically executed actions. Unfortunately the narrative was based on historically verified records of the time.
This is such an unexpected book. It is Historical Fiction and so tragic and unbelievable. If you like Historical Fiction this book is a wonderful read. It is a part of history that I did not know about. The author does a great job intertwining the history and the story.