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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Amazing read – enjoy!!
I had heard so many good things about this book, and even still it exceeded my expectations. Fantastic story!
Wonderful read! Loved it though at times it was disheartening and difficult to read. It explores events that most of us don’t know about it but should!
There aren’t enough descriptors offered in the list of boxes above to describe this book with a few clicks. This was a really good read, fascinating, about a tragic part of American history I previously knew nothing about. People claiming to “help” poor families, but really just stealing and selling their children. Families torn apart, parents and siblings who never knew what became of the children in their family. The story of one family, and the repercussions of a terrible system allowed to exist. Beautifully written, characters you come to love.
This is one of the most amazing stories I have read since my first visit to the public library many years ago. Compelling, authentic, heart wrenching. I wanted to jump into the pages of the book and love those children.
Powerful writing with a page-turner plot!
This book was inspiring since it was based on a true story. It is amazing to think such a thing could happen and then learn how real it is.
This story is incredibly touching and well told. It is an intriguing tale that makes me want to know more about Georgia Tan and the Tennessee Children’s Home. What happened to those children was tragic. This is a must read.
The telling of this story made me feel like I was there and going through each turn with the characters themselves.
This fictional account of non-fictional events is absolutely heart wrenching. It is the story of the Tennessee Home for Children, an organization promoting itself as an orphanage, but in reality is a hell on earth for the children unfortunate enough to be sent there. Some are actual orphans, but others are stolen, with the assistance of local police, from their families and attached to enough documentation that the families are unable to secure their return. The book is the fictional account of five siblings who were kidnapped and sent to the Tennessee Home for Children, and how their lives were affected by this awful event.
A story based on the Orphans in Tennessee being stolen from their homes and sold to wealthy families. A good depiction of a tragic event in our history.
What began as a slow build, had me turning pages feverishly, Before We Were Yours became a mesmerizing page-turner. Try to imagine a world where babies and children are kidnapped, stolen, and wrangled from their family’s arms and placed under the auspices of the State where they are abused, sexually assaulted, and often tortured, before being sold like chattel to strangers. Many of these children are old enough to understand what is happening to them. They shatter like glass when they are separated from their siblings. Helpless to protest, and with nowhere to turn, they become hardened and broken. It happened in the 1930s in Memphis, Tennessee, in one of the most notorious abuses of power in the history of this nation. The repercussions would be felt for generations.
Avery Stafford is the daughter of a political dynasty, men, and women, who’ve served Aiken, South Carolina for generations. She is being groomed to follow in the footsteps of her forefathers and become a Senator. She’s a savvy former U.S. attorney who stumbles upon a secret that could not only change the course of her life but affect the reputation and wreak havoc on her entire family. Even knowing this, she finds herself driven to find the truth, no matter what the cost.
Before We Were Yours is also a pleasing romantic love story. For two of the lovers, a poor itinerant riverboat family, it will mean devastation, loss of family, and doom. For the other two who seek the truth, it will bring them together and they will emerge from the truth united.
At heart, though, it is the tragic story of sisters, separated by forced adoptions who will seek to find those that were taken from them. They will keep their pasts and the truth secret from their families and the world.
The novel bounces back and forth from the actual events as they occurred and the present as it unfolds. Avery Stafford’s voice is her journey as she struggles to solve the mystery of what a strange woman at an old age home has to do with her grandmother who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Pre-teen, May Crandall, is the voice of the past. May, a child, and a victim serves up her story in a heart-wrenching manner. Her story, one of a profound love of family, she tries to keep her sisters and brothers together after tragedy strikes. She captivates us with her descriptions of a close-knit family that will be torn apart by greed and evil. Trust me, you will fall completely under her spell.
A thoroughly spellbinding read, hard to believe and unforgettable.
I just finished listening to Lisa Wingate’s Before We Were Yours and those hours i listened to it were one of the most heart breaking ones in a while. This story AND the narrators … they take you along the Foss siblings journey that will haunt you for days and leaves you crying …
I also got a copy of the book for Christmas and it has taken me that long to get to it and it took so long as it was so painful, this story of hundreds of children taken from their families, kept in horrible conditions, and then being ‘sold’ aka adopted.
In the front is written:
For the hundreds who vanished
and for the thousands who didn’t.
May your stories
not be forgotten.
For those who help today’s orphans
find forever homes.
May you always know the value
of your work
and your love.
I recommend you to give yourself time and space when you read it as you will need it. These children deserve it!
Great read!
A book worth reading and very educational.
A wonderful book about a tragic true story.
Had my attention.
Great book. Very interesting and poignant.
I had no idea this sad episode in America existed. Well-written and I learned something!
One of the best books I’ve ever read. Will stay with me for a long time!