From the Bookshelf of Christian Fiction Devourers…

Before We Were Yours

Lisa Wingate

Start date: January 1, 2018

Finish date: January 31, 2018

Discussion: Book of the Month Reading

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Book of the Month Reading

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What Members Thought

Jan 22, 2018 Kate rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Umm . . . WOW!
This book was a breathtaking journey into the heartache surrounding the Tennessee Children's Home Society's immoral (if not illegal) adoption trade of the 1930s to 1950. My heart broke along with Rill's as she tried to keep her family together, and get back to their parents.
I also really enjoyed Avery's journey . . . trying to find the truth of how elderly May Crandall knew her grandmother Judy, and how Avery learned to listen for the music of her own song, rather than the song her ...more

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Sep 24, 2017 Marcy rated it it was amazing

This was my first Lisa Wingate book and I was pleasantly surprised by how clean the book was (no swearing that I recall). That seems to be a rarity for a modern author. The book thoroughly held my interest. This historical fiction opened my eyes to a place and time I wasn’t aware of. What could have been a gloomy story, Lisa created a story of grit, determination, survival and even joy.

While most of the characters were created from a conglomerate of people’s experiences, some are real people fr ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 13, 2021 Pamela Baker rated it really liked it

Absorbing and well written dual timeline story. I could relate to both first person POV characters, even though I have not much in common with them. Horrific circumstances in one of the timelines keeps me from saying I enjoyed this book, but I liked the conclusion and the other timeline was fun.

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Jan 28, 2020 Karyn Tripp rated it really liked it

This book took a little bit for me to get into, but once I did, I could hardly put it down. The story was heartbreaking & hard to fathom. It is based on true events of children stolen and sold as orphans.

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Jul 23, 2019 Simone rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This was an extremely touching story that had me crying up a storm. Avery Stafford was raised a child of privilege and after one chance encounter with an elderly woman, she uncovers another side to her family history she had no idea existed.

Although the characters in this novel are fictitious, the adoption organization did really exist and the horrors these poor children saw and experienced were extremely heartbreaking, but quite true. It was an amazing book...be sure to have a box of tissues ne ...more

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Dec 21, 2017 C Janet rated it it was amazing

Shelves: good-read

This book is a good read. Lisa Wingate masterfully weaves a story on a scandal in our country's history. I will never forget this book. I couldn't put it down. Good book club read!
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Jun 22, 2018 Sabrina rated it it was amazing

I got this book from the library and knowing I would be going out of town and seeing it had no renewals on it had to read it in 2 days. Well, I started it yesterday and couldn't put it down. I became enraptured with the story and the characters in the story. I heart hurt for the children and the parents of the novel. It breaks my heart that it is based on true situations and that things like this really happened it seems not so long ago. Tragic yet captivating.. I had no problem reading in in on ...more

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Jul 05, 2024 Stacy rated it really liked it

Shelves: christian-fiction, library-loan

A book I've heard quite a bit about, though it took me a while to get around to reading it. I went in with zero preconceived notions and did not even read a blurb or synopsis of the book (very unlike me). I had no idea who Georgia Tann was or the TN Children's Home Society, so I had to spend some time researching and reading about that, as I was reading along with the book. Hard to read at times, and hard to imagine that it was likely so much worse, with very few happy endings in real life for t ...more

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