Before We Were Yours: A Novel

This is a story of 5 siblings, especially the oldest sister Rill, who try to stay together after they are kidnapped from their shanty boat home by agents of one of the most prolific human traffickers in US history. In the story, their love for each other and desire and attempts to protect one another are both heartwarming and heart wrenching. Thankfully the ending is heartwarming and not tragic, because I don't think I could have handled a tragic ending to a book that already had so much heartbreak. If you love children, this is a very difficult story to read. I personally believe that there is a special place in hell for people who harm children. The part that makes this story so awful is that the Tennessee Children's Home Society was a real place, and Georgia Tann was a real person who trafficked an estimated 5,000 kidnapped children in for profit adoption schemes that lined her own pockets. She preyed on the socioeconomically poor parents that she stole the children from, but also on the adoptive parents that probably desperately wanted children. And I'm sure that the vast majority of them were fed a pack of lies by Georgia Tann and legitimately believed they were adopting children that had no other family in the world. She also preyed on the children themselves, forcing them to live in dangerous, unsanitary and often abusive conditions. It's just disgusting. On further research about Georgia Tann, it appears that she held to the belief that there were two kinds of people: the poor, whom she viewed as incompetent parents, and the wealthy. She fattened her own purse in the process. For DECADES. "She just thought that she knew better than God." One survivor reunited with her birth parents stated: "The Bible says you're not supposed to hate anybody, but I'll tell you, if that woman was still living . . . all those people she did this to, all the suffering she caused for money. And she couldn't take a dime of it with her." The writing is compelling and the children are wonderfully developed. I just wanted to give Rill a hug and tell her she was amazing for trying so hard to be a good big sister and to look out for the little ones. They try so hard to be resilient and look out for one another in the worst of circumstances. I pray that my kids would stick together like that, god willing they will never be in situation where they are permanently separated from family. The people on the river and the Seviers are also wonderful to read about. The one thing I could have done without was the half baked love triangle with Avery. After the 3rd Avery chapter, I just started flipping through those parts because they were so irrelevant to the rest of the story. This was a single-day read for me because it was so compelling. I just had to see how it ended. I cried for Gabion, he reminded me so much of my baby. I'm glad it ended the way it did.

I was mesmerized by this story. Things this cruel and inhumane should not happen anywhere. And yet it did. Lisa Wingate weaves a remarkable story about a fictional family who experienced what real families did in the 1930’s to1950’s under the cruel guise of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society and Georgia Tann. The tale is weaved back and forth between present day and the stories being unraveled from the past. I am glad I read the book and recommend it to anyone who likes learning about history in a novel.

SUCH A BENEFICIAL READ! Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate offered a very real depiction of the infamous Tennessee Children’s Home Society. Within this historical fiction, the terror these children endured in real life is brought to life and shown within a much larger context. This novel is the perfect Young Adult read and engroses its reader in the mysterious tale. With the story being told through multiple points of view, it leaves you constantly on the edge of your seat and ready to solve the puzzle. Although you can see where the tale is headed by midpoint in the book, you won’t know for sure until the end. This alone makes the book hard to put down. The idea behind the book is a true story, making it ideal for those interested in true crime and survivor stories. In conjunction with the main story, the personal backgrounds for the characters makes the story more complex and lends itself to the ability to be believed as a true story. The small details included by Wingate make the novel easy to understand, yet enticing. While this book is a New York Times Bestseller, and that often discourages me from reading, I actually believe this novel deserves the title, as it does justice to the true stories of child trafficking in the 50s. Oftentimes I find it difficult to follow along in books that are not only told from multiple perspectives, but also multiple time periods. However, the flow of this novel was very smooth and effortlessly alternated between narrators. If you are interested in this format of fiction but are unsure where to start, I think that this book is the place to begin. On top of the amazing writing style, the characters were easy to relate to. Avery’s hectic lifestyle and longing for truth make it impossible not to fall in love with the character. Additionally, the sympathy you feel for Rill is immaculate and makes having empathy for fictional characters easy to understand. The three leading women in the novel have such a strong connection to one another in the end of the novel, and makes the 300+ pages fly by.

This book is an addictive read. I think thats not only about the skill of the author, but too the story is high adventure, mystery, drama; but some of it is based in fact which makes it credible and gripping. The needed answers to all your questions are there - but you have to keep reading!!

I was sucked in right away and carried along in the story like a river flowing to the sea. It is so well written that you feel the helplessness of the children and their sense of being trapped. I also loved the interweaving of the present with Avery’s story and how her view metamorphosed as the book moved along. To find out this story was based on two pieces of history — the Tennessee Children’s Home scandal and the shantypeople just made it all the better. Excellent book and recommend it to all!

Another fabulous book from Lisa Wingate, but this one takes a different turn. Lisa has taken actual events, the adoption scandal of The Tennessee Children's Home Society that was exposed in 1950, and has woven an engrossing account of lives changed. It is told in two different voices in two different times, but unlike some books that doesn't prove a distraction. It is very easy to keep it all straight, and it adds to the suspense by taking you up to a point and then pulling you back to a different aspect of the story. The characters are well developed, and you are allowed to peel back the layers slowly to get the big picture. As Rill's story unfolds, you are held spellbound by the unrelenting sadness of her situation, and horrified by the fact that these things really happened to some children. Wingate has a gift for imagery that pulls you into a scene. But in true Lisa Wingate fashion, there are also plenty of happier moments to relieve the sadness and many truths uncovered. Avery's story gives some interesting insights into how political families live their lives on display. She wasn't the most sympathetic character in the beginning, but she did grow on me as she learned to be more aware of her own aspirations and feelings. A well-crafted new effort from Wingate, it is one of those books you can't put down and you don't want to end! This book is a little different twist for Lisa Wingate. She has taken actual events, the adoption scandal of The Tennessee Children's Home Society that was exposed in 1950, and has woven an engrossing account of lives changed. A large family living on a houseboat on the Mississippi River finds themselves in a desperate situation one dark and stormy night. The father must take the mother, in the midst of a life-threatening childbirth, to the hospital leaving the five children on the boat. Operatives for the predatory orphanage grab the children and propel them into a terrifying situation. Big sister Rill tries desperately to protect her siblings and keep them together through it all. It is told in two different voices in two different times, but unlike some books that doesn't prove a distraction. It is very easy to keep it all straight, and it adds to the suspense by taking you up to a point and then pulling you back to a different aspect of the story. The characters are well developed, and you are allowed to peel back the layers slowly to get the big picture. As Rill's story unfolds, you are held spellbound by the unrelenting sadness of her situation, and horrified by the fact that these things really happened to some children. Wingate has a gift for imagery that pulls you into a scene. But in true Lisa Wingate fashion, there are also plenty of happier moments to relieve the sadness and many truths uncovered. The other voice is that of Avery, the daughter and heir-apparent of a political dynasty. Her story gives some interesting insights into how political families live their lives on display. She wasn't the most sympathetic character in the beginning, but she did grow on me as she learned to be more aware of her own aspirations and feelings. This is a well-crafted new effort from Wingate - one of those books you can’t put down and you don’t want to end!

Rill Foss lives an unconventional, carefree, and almost idyllic life with her younger sisters and brother aboard the riverboat Arcadia. Their parents, who they call Queenie and Briny instead of Mama and Daddy, are indigent but devoted. Rill feels like the princess of a river kingdom, until one day, Queenie must be rushed to the hospital to save her life and that of her unborn twins. Within days, Rill's life is ripped apart, into jagged pieces that may never come together again. Decades, almost a century, later, Avery Stafford struggles to keep up her role as the perfect senator's daughter. Her father's staff grooms her to take his place, fearing the great Wells Stafford will succumb to cancer. But a chance encounter with a nursing home resident sends Avery down the last path she expected--one unplanned, unpaved, and full of secrets her family can no longer afford to keep. The style and plotting of Before We Were Yours is classic Lisa Wingate, which I have missed in the years since her last release. As always, Lisa unites two distinct characters and stories existing generations apart. This creates a beautiful book that reminds readers, in its own subtle way, to know and respect the histories around them--their own and others'. I must admit Rill's half of the story captured me more than Avery's, but both mesh together well. This Wingate novel is considerably darker than some other offerings, asking readers to learn about and face a terrible truth in the history of Tennessee and the United States. Lisa paints the plight of Rill and her siblings so well, you experience everything with them in piercing, raw detail. This novel inspired me to do some research into Georgia Tann, and reminded me of the trafficking crisis the United States still faces today. The Tennessee Children's Home Society no longer exists, but places like it remain. Adoption fraud still stalks families. By the time you finish Before We Were Yours, you will have added these families, past and present, to your prayer list. When an author makes you feel and think like that, he or she has written a winner. Wingate's characters, especially Rill and her siblings, come to life on the page, as do their environments. Knowing almost from the outset that the siblings will be split up raises the stakes and kept me reading long into the night, wondering what would happen to each one and if any of the Foss kids would ever find each other or their parents again. Here, there are no idealistic endings or pretty bows. Nothing is sanitized, and emotions are not spared. In a world that often glamorizes orphan status in the media, the raw truth was a welcome change. As noted, Avery's half of the story didn't draw me in like Rill's did. I understand why it was there, but many parts seemed underdeveloped or unnecessary. For instance, did Avery need an engagement and budding romance on top of what she already dealt with? If Grandma Judy was so important to the story--as she should be--why did we not see more of her? Why were there not more parallels between Rill's experiences and say, the nursing home care crisis alluded to in Avery's story? I might have advised Lisa to either do that, or go for a straight historical novel. That being said, Before We Were Yours is a book you won't soon forget. I highly recommend it, especially if you also like books such as Orphan Train, With You Always, and other orphan-centered offerings.

No one should miss this novel. I along with many others had NO idea about the nightmare. I loved the 'then and now' pattern of the book - I was kept breathless as to how it would tie in. I normally do my reading last thing in the day, tucked comfortably in bed, hoping I don't read late enough that I sleep too late in the morning. But that went out the window with this one - plus I found myself picking my Kindle up throughout the entire day, thus putting off a LOT of things I SHOULD have been doing. I loved how Wingate writes. I am a huge highlighter of fine novels, this was no exception. There are too many to include in this review but here are some passages by some of the characters to whet the appetite: "Static makes his thick gray hair stick straight out. I want to smooth it down for him, but I don't. It would be a breach of protocol." "I'm not prepared to cross the line from daughter to caretaker." "We're just like other families. Every available avenue is paved with guilt, lined with pain, and pockmarked with shame." "On occasion, it is as if the latches in my mind have gone rusty and worn. The doors fall open and closed at will. A peek inside here. An empty space there. A dark place I'm afraid to peer into. I never know what I will find. There's no predicting when a barrier will swing wide, or why. 'Triggers'. That's what the psychologists call them on TV shows. Triggers...as if the strike ignites gunpowder and sends a projectile spinning down a rifle barrel. It's an appropriate metaphor. Her face triggers something. A door opens far into the past. I stumble through it unwittingly at first, wondering what might be locked inside this room." "My mind skitters featherlight across treetops and along valley floors. I travel all the way to a low-slung Mississippi riverbank." "She's stubborn as a cypress stump and twice as thick sometimes." "The skin on her cheek stretches so tight, it's crossed with lacy veins like a dragonfly's wings." "They were so young when they had me, I don't think they even thought to teach me the words Mama and Daddy. It's always been like we were friends the same age. But every once in a while, I need them to be a daddy or a mama." "Nothing takes you from thirty years old to thirteen faster than your mother's voice rebounding up the stairs like a tennis ball after a forehand slice." "These past few months have rubbed us raw from the inside out, left each of us silently bleeding beneath our skins." "His eyes are dark as midnight on water. They reflect everything he looks at - a heron bird fishing nearby, branches drooping from a half-broke tree, the morning sky with its foam-white clouds...me." "He reaches out and tweaks Lark's nose, and her lashes flutter like butterfly wings." "He smells of river water and sky. Morning fog in the summer and frost and woodsmoke in the winter." "Spanish moss drips from the trees, as delicately spun as the lace on a bridal veil." "I reach for that sense of comfort, but this visit is pungent with opposing tastes. Bitter and sweet. Familiar and strange. The tastes of life." "The other side of his mouth curves upward into a smile, and a strange sensation travels all the way to my toes. It's like lightning crackling far off over the water - something unpredictable and dangerous." "Riggs just smiles and watches us, his eyes white around the edges and winter-bear crazy. You see a bear moving in the winter, you better look out. He's hungry and he aims to find something to fill that hunger. He won't care much what it is." "I grab my hair and pull until it hurts. I want to pull all of it out. Every single piece. I want a pain I understand instead of the one I don't. I want a pain that has a beginning and an end, not one that goes on forever and cuts all the way to the bone." "The day, and this place, and everything that's happened here goes through my mind. I see it like a motion-picture show, the kind we watch for five cents when the carnivals come through the river towns and shine their projectors on the side of a building or a barn. But the show in my mind is wavy, and blurry, and running too fast." "The day is so sweet, it's like the drops of syrup from a honeysuckle vine. I stick out my tongue and taste and taste." "Overhead, katydids and crickets give the sky a heartbeat, and a million stars shine like far-off campfires. The half-moon hangs heavy, rocking on its back. It's twin rides the ripples in the rain barrel as I pass." "But I can see May withdrawing into herself, the story vanishing like chalk art on a rainy day." "She doesn't understand that all our lives we've been up at first light. There's no other way to live on a shantyboat. When the river comes awake, you do too. The birds speak, the boats whistle, the waves wash up one after another if you're tied anyplace near a main channel. The lines have to be watched, and the fish are biting, and the stove needs kindling. There's things to do." "I drift off to sleep and dream that Fern and me are down on M. Sevier's fishing dock. We're sitting on one of those big suitcases they store in the pantry room, near Zuma's mops and brooms, and we've got it packed full of toys to share with Camellia, Lark and Gabion. We're waiting for Briny and Queenie to pick us up." (And there you have the book cover....) "You don't live all your life on the river without knowing how the moon travels. The river and its critters choose their moods according to the moon." "The portrait artist added the vibrant colors. There is no hue for painting laughter, yet the captured moment radiates joy." "He pulls me in and hugs us both hard. He smells of ashes, and fish, and coal oil, and the big river. Familiar things." ""They taught me to find the music. Life is not unlike cinema. Each scene has its own music, and the music is created for the scene, woven to it in ways we do not understand. No matter how much we may love the melody of a bygone day or imagine the song of a future one, we must dance within the music of today, or we will always be out of step, stumbling around in something that doesn't suit the moment. I let go of the river's song and found the music of that big house." "A woman's past need not predict her future. She can dance to new music if she chooses. Her OWN music. To hear the tune, she must only stop talking. To herself, I mean. We're always trying to persuade ourselves of things." The descriptions of the river, the boat, the sounds, the feelings - you feel as though you have been there even if you never have. I could literally 'taste' places and things thanks to the author's exquisite writing. I cannot decide if the "Note From The Author" should be before the story, or after (where it is) - I guess it really doesn't matter - as long as you read it carefully. The information will blow you away.

Very good

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is a well told story with relevant historical facts. Would definitively recommend this book!

If this hadn't been a Kindle daily deal I probably wouldn't have stumbled across it as I wasn't familiar with Lisa Wingate's books prior to reading this fictional story based on a true American historical tragedy, I certainly was unaware of the magnitude of the injustice to American children and families. I particularly enjoy fictional stories that are based in history so this ticked a lot of boxes for me as I was transported yet learnt something along the way. I am so pleased I did buy "Before We Were Yours" as it is an engrossing story and an eye opener about Georgia Tann and the Tennesee Children's Home Society in the 1930s time frame. Set in both the 1930s and present day the book follows the story of the Foss children in the '30s and Avery Stafford in present day. Avery Stafford finds an unusual photograph that causes her to unearth a number of secrets and lies inside her upright, respected family. What follows is a heartwarming story of love, betrayal and memories pieced together from a heart wrenching period in time. This was easy to read despite the challenging subject matter, which just made it utterly thought provoking. I enjoyed the characters and how the book was layered to reveal parts of the story at a time. In addition to the well developed characters and background love story, I liked the realistic view of the 1930s. The book has parallel story lines that weave together nicely. This is a beautiful story of heartache, love and the unthinkable. It made me Google more info and read up on what took place during that period. I know it will stay with me for a long time.

Well written. As you keep on reading you find out the mystery,the people involved. Until the end you wont have a clue.

祖父母と孫の両世代に跨ってお話が同時進行、米国南部で暮らしていた5人姉妹は何故お母さんが出産する嵐の夜に孤児院に連れ去られたのか、Averyが追うJudyお婆ちゃんの秘密とは……、謎解きで読ませます。 Mayと名前を変えさせられたRillの長女ならではの健気さに涙しつつ、まさかこんなことが本当にあった訳じゃないだろうなと読み続けたら、なんと実話に基くフィクション。そこが一番のショックでした。 つい最近まで、長らくNYT紙ベストセラーでした。