Before We Were Yours- A Novel by Lisa Wingate
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 family's Mississippi River shanty boat. 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.
- Suggested age range- Adult
- Format- Paperback
- Product dimensions- 5.1" W x 7.8" H x 0.8" D
- Genre- Fiction
- Publisher- Random House Publishing Group, Publication date- 05-21-2019
- Page count- 384
- ISBN- 9780425284704
Web ID: 9093415
Haunting tale
This story is haunting, especially when you realize it was born from a true scandal related to adoptions. You'll be horrified that anyone could be so evil to rip newborns from their parents and siblings from one another. The story alternates between present day and the past in a way that elegantly flows for the reader. This book will grab your heart and hold tight until you reach the end.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
This Story Will Grab Your Heart!
This passionate story is one of the most heart wrenching tales I have ever read. Lisa Wingate’s writing effects such emotional ties that the reader empathizes with every secret and every heartache. The dual time storylines effortlessly weave within each other with exceptional pacing, making this novel one that isn’t easily forgotten. I read both the ebook and the audiobook. The audiobook, narrated by Emily Rankin and Catherine Taber, was exceptional. Having separate narrators for the different time frames caused this story to come alive. This book is suitable for teens and older with no inappropriate intimate scenes and no bad language. Although clean, the events of these characters are tragic.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
A well-written, unforgettable story
Of the 30-some books I’ve read so far this year, this book has broken my heart the most…I’m the kind of person that never cries, but phew! This one brought me pretty close a few times. Over the years, I’ve heard a few things about the history this book covers, so that part wasn’t too much of a surprise to me. The depth of the atrocities committed, though, was new to me, and, presented through the lens of characters I quickly grew to love, this made for an unforgettable read in more than one way. Lisa Wingate crafts a deep, engaging story in these pages. I was amazed, all the way through, just how much I felt like I was “there”. Some books take me a good few chapters to get into; with this one, I was “in” right away. I felt like I was a river girl alongside Rill on her shantyboat; I was one of the spectators sitting beside Avery in the nursing home. The atmosphere and description were spot-on in this book; not enough to weigh it down, but the perfect amount to pull you into the scenes. And then there are the characters…each of the main characters was dynamic, the kind of people you could easily become friends with. I think I related to Rill more than Avery, but only slightly more. Both were well-drawn, and both carried my full sympathies throughout the book! The family element was one of my favorites. I loved how Rill fought for her siblings, and did her best to protect them, even though she was just a young girl herself. I also loved how Avery did her best to support her family, even though it wasn’t what she really wanted to do. This isn’t an easy story; because of the history, there are some very evil things alluded to at times. But each instance is handled with a lot of tact and care, which I appreciated. If you enjoy well-written historical fiction, check this book out. It’s powerful, it’ll bring you to tears, but it’s worth it.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
That Which Does Not Kill Us
There are two stories simultaneously told here. One is a somewhat insufferable tale of discovery, and the second is a true horror story of kidnap and murder. Obviously, the second one is the more compelling, but the first needs to happen before the second becomes clear, so bear with it. Avery Stafford is the near-insufferable daughter of privilege, her father a Senator, her family feared and powerful and convinced of its divine mandate. Avery herself is a high-powered attorney assisting her father to weather the reefs of his reelection campaign; to wit, his association with corporations that are responsible for godawful elder care. Avery is helping hide the fact that her grandmother, Judy, has been placed in a high class and expensive memory unit while constituents are forced to place loved ones in inadequate state-run facilities that avoid scrutiny and accountability. Wouldn’t do for the public to know the Senator is using his privilege and wealth to avoid these same facilities, some of which his cronies manage. While running some kind of interference for her father at an elder care facility, Avery has a run-in with a patient, who steals the dragonfly bracelet given by her now-Alzheimer’s ridden grandma. And then the real story begins. In 1939, Rill Foss, the oldest of five children, lives on a shantyboat off the Mississippi River near Memphis with her beloved father and mother. It’s a great life, lots of friends and adventure and she is loved and cared for and is dubbed the Princess of Arcadia, which is the name of the shantyboat. One night, her father, Briny, has to take her mother, Queenie, to the hospital because delivery of twins goes very wrong. He leaves Rill in charge of the kids and the boat. The next day, police show up and take Rill and her siblings to the Tennessee Children’s Home Society, assuring them they will be returned when their mother is better. Then the nightmare begins. The Children’s Home is a baby factory, and the blond Foss children are just what clients want. Rill battles the director, Mrs. Tamm, to keep her brothers and sisters together as Tamm shops them to well-heeled clients, including Hollywood actors and corporate titans, keeping the Foss’ under lock and key and using threats and violence to keep them in line. One by one, Rill loses her siblings until there’s only one sister left. Fern. You can probably guess at this point how the two stories are related, and that is one of the annoyances of this book: there’s no mystery. The blurb pretty much gives the whole thing away so you know who’s who and what’s what before the story actually launches. That does not though, detract from this heartwrenching story as you watch Rill’s increasingly helpless attempts to save herself and her dwindling family. Talk about feeling powerless in the face of powerful elites who actually believe child theft is justified because them shanty people can’t provide the kind of life that we sophisticates can. And, yes, Avery is the privileged descendant of that attitude but give her credit, as the story unfolds, she changes from someone seeking to protect her family name to someone genuinely shocked and appalled by this little-known practice of the 1930s. Because this is a true story. Oh, no, not of the Foss's, but of the Tennessee Home and Mrs. Tamm, who was real and who kidnapped children from front porches and the sides of road as they walked to school and then sold them all over the country for almost twenty years before the state finally put a stop to it. Mrs. Tamm died peacefully in her bed, never accounting for hundreds of children that disappeared, and never accountable to the families she destroyed. And, yes, the eugenicists no doubt regret that this happened but it worked out in better lives for the children, in most cases. Not the ones who were murdered at the facility, of course, but you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. There are some confusing and obscure moments in this, such as how the sisters eventually found each other decades later, and who exactly is who, but the reveals are actually quite charming when they unfold. Wish I could say the same about Avery, who’s somewhat obtuse and superficial. She throws her fiancée over for a momentary case of the hots. She insists that she got to her position of high legal competence through hard work, but her definition and mine somewhat differ. Sure, she worked hard in law school, the one her father paid for, as well as the prep schools and private schools and horse lessons and seaside mansions and vacations of privilege and tutors. She got to be what she wanted to be because Daddy made sure of it. Say, Avery: hard work is when you achieve your life’s goals without someone else paving the way. Especially when your forebears lost everything to make that happen.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Heart Breaking Must Read!
OMG! I am crying after just finishing this book. I thought Avery's part started out a little slow but had already gotten hooked on Rill's story so I tracked on and so glad I did. It was amazing, heartbreaking, heartwarming and everything a great book should be!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
One of the best books I have read in years!
Wingate will both break your heart and give you hope. “No matter how much we 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.” Through sleepless nights and bloodshot eyes I hung onto every word. I could not sleep until I knew the fate of these children. A tragedy in our nation’s history, it is hard to believe that something like Georgia Tann’s Tennessee Children’s Home Society ever existed. While the story is fictional, it is based on the real life scandal. The novel begins with the Foss Family living on a Mississippi River Shanty and escalates quickly. Five children ripped from their home by police, taken from safety, leaving them with a forgotten past and changing their future forever. Told in dual timelines we meet prominent Avery Stafford in present day South Carolina. With an ailing father and a grandmother whose memory fades day by day, Avery has returned home to oversee her father’s career. A chance encounter with an elderly woman will shift everything Avery thought she knew about her family. How do these families, generations apart, connect? Both heart-breaking and heartwarming the voice of twelve year old Rill Foss will stay with you long after the last page.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
A Good Read
I did enjoyed this book, a page turner. I enjoyed reading about how two families came together and be reunited.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Incredible story!
Incredible, beautiful and poignant are the first words that come to mind as soon as I finished this book. This story is historical fiction surrounding a dark period involving the Tennessee Children’s Home and then also flashes to the present. This is a story of unbelievable loss, terrible abuse, heartbreak, questions, friends, family and love. Lisa Wingate is an incredibly talented writer. The moment you open one of her books you are captivated from the first page. This story will make you angry, make you cry, make you smile, and make you happy. I can not recommend this book highly enough. This is a definite MUST read.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com