Goodreads asked Lisa Wingate:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Lisa Wingate For me, every piece of fiction begins with a spark. From there, the story travels on the winds of research and imagination. Before We Were Yours had the most unexpected kind of beginning.

I was up in the wee hours one winter night working and had the TV playing in the background. A rerun of the Investigation Discovery: Dangerous Women cycled through at about two in the morning. I looked up and saw images of an old mansion. The front room was filled with bassinettes and babies. There were crying babies, laughing babies, babies who were red-cheeked and sweaty-faced and sickly looking. I tuned in and immediately became fascinated by the bizarre, tragic, and startling history of Georgia Tann and her Memphis branch of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society. One of the most shocking things about the story was how recent it was. Georgia Tann and her childrens’ home operated from the 1920s through 1950. I couldn't stop wondering about the children who had been victimized by Georgia’s system, who had been brokered in adoptions for profit.

What became of them? Where were they now?

After digging into the story, I was shocked by the scope of Georgia’s network and the tragic consequences of her cruelty and greed. An estimated five-thousand babies and children passed through her hands. They were, quite simply, offered as products. Prospective parents could choose hair color, eye color, age, gender, religious background, genetic predisposition for talents such as art and music. Tann ran frequent newspaper ads, offering children as “Christmas presents” and “Yours for the asking?” It was mindboggling and horrifying.

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