Before We Were Yours

Before We Were Yours

by Lisa Wingate

Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction

Synopsis:  Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old 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 that the truth is much darker. 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 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—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.

from GoodReads

Review:  This book broke my heart so many times but yet I really enjoyed listening to it.  The story is told in alternating perspectives between Rill and Avery.  Rill, a twelve year old girl who grew up with her young parents on the Mississippi River, has such an emotional voice in this story.  Avery is a strong, confident woman who knows her duty to her family.  Rill's story of being torn away from her home and sent to live with her siblings in a horrible orphanage was so difficult to read but yet her love for her siblings shines through.  The fact that this story is based on real events was shocking as it unbearable to think about the treatment of children under Georgia Tann's direction.  My heart broke for all of the children who were victims of this so called adoption agency and the horrors that they endured.  There were many times that I was almost brought to tears thinking about these children.  There is not much that the author explicitly says as to what happened but the reader is left to infer what happens and that might even be worse!  Avery's story is not quite as interesting but she is the person who is trying to discover a connection between her family and a story she hears from a woman at a nursing home, May Crandall.  Avery is persistent in digging through her family's history as she discovers that she may not want what her family wants for her.  I feel that Avery's story was there as a means to end for the reader to figure out how her family is connected to Rill's story.  While my review may make this book sound too depressing or horrific, this book is not that!  This book is eye opening to something that happened in our history.  It's compelling and well written.

Rating: 4.5 stars