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Before We Were Yours

Lisa Wingate

Start date: January 1, 2019

Finish date: January 28, 2019

Discussion: Monthly Group Reads

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January: Free-For-All
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What Members Thought

Jun 12, 2018 Colleen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: neighborhood-book-club, tower-teams-6

(May) 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.

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Feb 08, 2018 Cassie Selleck rated it really liked it

Shelves: literature

This book was recommended by a friend or I may not have read it, but I'm glad I did. It took a few chapters to hook me, but it eventually did and I found myself wanting to know more about each character and who they turned out to be. I would rate it a 4.2...I think the only thing that kept it from being a five is that the characters at the children's home just seemed too one-dimensionally evil. As much as the author was able to capture the personalities and nuances of the other characters, it fe ...more

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Aug 20, 2019 Aura rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, abuse, adoption

I had never heard about the horrible things that happened for decades in the Children's home society. The children of poor and vulnerable white women were stolen to be put up for "adoption" by rich couples. Some of the children were taken at birth and remember nothing of their birth parents. Others were taken a bit older and can remember a life before they were adopted. The novel centers around the Foss children, 4 beautiful siblings stolen from their parents who lived in a river boat. The story ...more

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Jul 27, 2018 Kate rated it liked it

I have to saw I’m surprised by how this book received such a high rating. It’s the story of a “orphanage” in Tennessee; however, the children are not orphans, but have rather been stolen from their parents (often river gypsies) or their parents have signed them over to the care of the women who run the house. The women then place these children in the homes of their wealthy clients at an exorbitant price. This book goes back and for between the present time and the 1930s. The story in the presen ...more

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Jan 13, 2020 Amie's Book Reviews rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, audiobooks

Wow! What a fabulous work of historical fiction. This book is one that you will NEVER forget and one that should never be forgotten.

With fascinating and heart-breaking historical accuracy, Author Lisa Wingate has crafted a story that is a reflection of real life happenings.

BEFORE WE WERE YOURS is incredibly well researched and brings to light the fact that these kidnappings, and illegal adoptions took place with horrendous frequency.

Without giving away too much, the story, life in the orphana ...more

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Aug 03, 2018 Robin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

although this book was fiction, it is actually based on real life events that happened years ago. the entire idea of there even being any truth to the whole story is horrifying. there are two main stories that eventually entwine into one.

~the past one is narrated by Rill, a 12-year-old young girl who tries hard to keep her family together when she and her three younger sisters and brother are practically kidnapped and taken away from their parents and brought to a childrens home in tennessee. b although this book was fiction, it is actually based on real life events that happened years ago. the entire idea of there even being any truth to the whole story is horrifying. there are two main stories that eventually entwine into one.

~the past one is narrated by Rill, a 12-year-old young girl who tries hard to keep her family together when she and her three younger sisters and brother are practically kidnapped and taken away from their parents and brought to a childrens home in tennessee. between the 1920s-1950s, the woman ran the home illegally brokered children to whoever was willing to pay for them, using scare tactics to get the parents to sign away their rights with false promises to pay hospital bills and lies about stillborn babies just because they were poor and she felt she could offer the children better lives once she placed them in what she felt were more suitable homes. not to say the kids had such a great life as poor little river rats, but at least they were together, loved, and wanted by their parents. it is unfathomable that the people who ran the childrens home actually thought they were doing the children right by taking them away from the only life they knew. although the foss children are fictional characters, their story is based on real facts that actually happened to many of these children, many who didnt ever get to live on to tell about it.

~the modern day story is told by a 30-year-old woman former attorney named Avery who (view spoiler) comes from a prestigious political southern family whose world would be turned upside down if this story actually came out. when Avery comes across information about her grandmother Judy's past, it opens up a whole bunch of questions leading to the childrens home story, but unfortunately Judy suffers from dementia and cannot provide answers. luckily, then Avery accidently meets May (view spoiler) and eventually she learns how she is actually connected to her grandmother and the significance the dragonfly bracelet Avery now wears had to them both.

although the events that go with this story are truly sad, thankfully most the Foss children ended up adopted by well-off families and seemed to have decent lives (view spoiler)

i dont recall how i heard about this book, i think i saw it won historical fiction awards and i usually like historical fiction, so maybe that how i found it, but was but overall it was definitely a captivating story that i am glad i read and learned a little history about this unfortunate situation. ...more

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Sep 12, 2019 Samantha rated it really liked it

A beautifully told story that weaves through family histories in the south. Be prepared though the side history of the Tennessee children's home it's hard to hear. ...more

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Mar 28, 2019 Susan rated it really liked it

Shelves: the-greater-plymouth-readers-bc

Another story about the experience of children of poverty being stolen and sold under the guise of protection. It was told with compassion and humanity. The characters were real and complete, and their relationships rang true and understandable given their ordeal as unwilling adoptees. This novel cracked at the hard shell of denial that can keep those of us who have not known poverty believing that children may be better off away from their roots. It felt very important in the telling of their e ...more

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