Lisa Wingate
Two families, generations apart, are forever changed by a
heartbreaking injustice in this poignant novel, inspired by a true story, for
readers of Orphan Train and The Nightingale.
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 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.
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 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.
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My 5-Star Review:
Imagine that someone snatches your young children,
then sells them to another family. Sadly, this actually happened, and the woman
who did it was considered to be an upstanding person who was helping young
orphans find homes. Mixing fact with fiction, Lisa Wingate creates this
compelling story of family in her bestselling novel, “Before We Were Yours.”
In the present day, when Avery Stafford tours a nursing home
with her father, she is approached by an elderly woman who confuses her for someone
else. Intrigued, Avery visits the woman again and sees a photo on her
nightstand of a woman who looks like she could be a member of Avery’s family.
Slowly, she unravels a family secret of a tragic past. But it’s that past that
has made them who they are today.
Weaving the past in among the current day story, Wingate creates
a spellbinding novel that is impossible to put down. Tragic, heart wrenching at
times, and poignant, this is a story you will not soon forget.
(I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley and the
publisher in exchange for my honest review.)
About the Author:
Lisa Wingate is a former journalist, an inspirational
speaker, and the bestselling author of more than twenty novels. Her work has
won or been nominated for many awards, including the Pat Conroy Southern Book
Prize, the Oklahoma Book Award, the Carol Award, the Christy Award, and the RT
Reviewers’ Choice Award. Wingate lives in the Ouachita Mountains of southwest
Arkansas.
Selected among
BOOKLIST'S Top 10 for two years running, Lisa Wingate writes novels that
Publisher's Weekly calls "Masterful" and ForeWord Magazine refers to
as "Filled with lyrical prose, hope, and healing.” Lisa is a journalist,
an inspirational speaker, and the author of a host of literary works. Her novels
have garnered or been short-listed for many awards, including the Pat Conroy
Southern Book Prize, the Oklahoma Book Award, the Utah Library Award, the
LORIES Best Fiction Award, The Carol Award, the Christy Award, Family Fiction's
Top 10, RT Booklover's Reviewer's Choice Award, and others. The group Americans
for More Civility, a kindness watchdog organization, selected Lisa along with
six others for the National Civies Award, which celebrates public figures who
promote greater kindness and civility in American life. She’s been a writer
since Mrs. Krackhardt’s first-grade class and still believes that stories have
the power to change the world.
IN THE WRITER'S OWN WORDS: A special first grade teacher, Mrs. Krackhardt, made a writer out of me. That may sound unlikely, but it's true. It's possible to find a calling when you're still in pigtails and Mary Jane shoes, and to know it's your calling. I was halfway through the first grade when I landed in Mrs. Krackhardt's classroom. I was fairly convinced there wasn't anything all that special about me... and then, Mrs. Krackhardt stood over my desk and read a story I was writing. She said things like, "This is a great story! I wonder what happens next?"
It isn't every day a shy new kid gets that kind of attention. I rushed to finish the story, and when I wrote the last word, the teacher took the pages, straightened them on the desk, looked at me over the top, and said, "You are a wonderful writer!"
A dream was born. Over the years, other dreams bloomed and died tragic, untimely deaths. I planned to become an Olympic gymnast or win the National Finals Rodeo, but there was this matter of back flips on the balance beam and these parents who stubbornly refused to buy me a pony. Yet the writer dream remained. I always believed I could do it because... well... my first grade teacher told me so, and first grade teachers don't lie.
So, that is my story, and if you are a teacher, or know a teacher, or ever loved a special teacher, I salute you from afar and wish you days be filled with stories worth telling and stories worth reading.
IN THE WRITER'S OWN WORDS: A special first grade teacher, Mrs. Krackhardt, made a writer out of me. That may sound unlikely, but it's true. It's possible to find a calling when you're still in pigtails and Mary Jane shoes, and to know it's your calling. I was halfway through the first grade when I landed in Mrs. Krackhardt's classroom. I was fairly convinced there wasn't anything all that special about me... and then, Mrs. Krackhardt stood over my desk and read a story I was writing. She said things like, "This is a great story! I wonder what happens next?"
It isn't every day a shy new kid gets that kind of attention. I rushed to finish the story, and when I wrote the last word, the teacher took the pages, straightened them on the desk, looked at me over the top, and said, "You are a wonderful writer!"
A dream was born. Over the years, other dreams bloomed and died tragic, untimely deaths. I planned to become an Olympic gymnast or win the National Finals Rodeo, but there was this matter of back flips on the balance beam and these parents who stubbornly refused to buy me a pony. Yet the writer dream remained. I always believed I could do it because... well... my first grade teacher told me so, and first grade teachers don't lie.
So, that is my story, and if you are a teacher, or know a teacher, or ever loved a special teacher, I salute you from afar and wish you days be filled with stories worth telling and stories worth reading.
