Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

From the authors website:

THE BLOCKBUSTER HIT—A #1 New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly Bestseller

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 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.

My thoughts:

This family really tugged at my heart and made me wonder if this was based on real events.  This family is fictional, but the Tennessee Children's Home Society was real and really did procure children through all sorts of methods to adopt out for a fee.  Some were kidnapped, some coerced from poor families, some taken when parents signed papers they didn't understand.

I like how the story unfolded, while part of me just wanted them to spill who was who and what had happened to them,  it unfolded in just the fight way.  

What kind of mark does it leave on children to be treated as they were in that home and to wonder for years what had happened to siblings?  Why did they feel the need to hide the truth from even their families?  Did the stigma still linger?

This book and this family were so real I wanted to find out more about the real survivors of the TCHS.

Barnes and Nobel Fist Look Book Club

Barnes and Noble is having registration for the next First Look Book Club. I copied the information from their site below if anyone is interested in registering and participating. This will be my 4th time and it has been fun participating in the discussions.




How To Get Your Free Reading Copy & Enroll in the Discussion[ Edited ]


Eternal on the Water -- Joseph Monninger's poignant tale of both love and life -- is ready made for the First Look Book Club and we're thrilled to share it with you!





You will receive a free advance reading copy and access to the discussion with the author. The ARCs will mail soon and the discussion will begin on January 4th.





Please only enroll if you're going to participate in the discussion. ARCs are limited, so if you do not participate, you will be excluded from future First Look selections.



Here is how to enroll:



1. Sign in
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"The Postmistress" by Sarah Blake

I received this book as part of Barnes and Nobles First Look Book Club. If you have never taken part in one I highly recommend it. You can find them on the B & N site under book clubs. The next sign-ups will be at the beginning of December for a January club (the next two months are off months). You sign up and receive an Advanced Reading Copy or ARC of a book that has not yet been released. You are expected to participate in an online discussion and post a review to their site at the completion of the book. This is my third one and all three have been wonderful.

My thoughts on the book:
I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. It is set over the course of a year starting in 1940 and going into 1941 before the US enters into WWII. This is not an era I typically read books set in so while I know of it, I don't know any real details. Whatever I learned in school has become pretty sketchy at this point. To me the author really brought the time period alive and made it real. The story is set on both sides of the ocean with the characters being connected by radio. There is Franklin, Mass. where Iris, the postmaster, and Emma, the doctors wife, listen to radio reports and then in London there is Frankie reporting the news they are listening to. These three women are the focus of the story and they are very different. Iris is a 40-year-old unmarried woman who is in charge of the post office, Emma was an orphan who married Will and moved to Franklin a small town on Cape Cod and Frankie is a reporter stationed in London during the Blitz who really brings life and details to the nightly bombing and regular loss of life. I don't want to reveal too much or spoil the story for anyone, but I will say it was a very well written novel with characters who seemed very real. It shows the innocence in the US prior to entering the war, thinking it couldn't really touch the US and also brings alive the plight of the people trying to escape from Europe. Very nicely done!