i had never heard of the tennessee childrens home society orphanage before this book, but i am so saddened that something so oppressive could ever take place and that so many people not only turned a blind eye to it, but ‘benefited’ from it. The birthday girl slowly pushes herself out of her chair, taking her beau's arm. They move along together, stooped and crooked and leaning. The sight is sweet and heart tugging. I hope my parents live to this ripe old stage of life. I hope they'll have a long retirement... someday... YEARS in the future when my father finally decides to slow down. pg. 11 This novel follows the lives of the five Foss siblings who grow up living on a Mississippi River shantyboat with their parents in 1939. They have a unique and wild childhood with parents who shower them with love and affection in unconventional ways. One of the children, Twelve-year-old Rill Foss, grows up taking care of her younger siblings, often fulfilling parental roles. Rill is one of the narrators of the book and she is a character I will not soon forget - I absolutely adored her! Avery struggles to come to terms with Grandma Judy’s dementia. Her family wrestles with difficult choices about Grandma Judy’s care. Has memory loss and elder care affected your family? In what way? What issues did it cause and how did you deal with them? Have you imagined what it would be like to be a victim of memory loss? Before We Were Yours is a story about families torn apart by Social Injustice. Told from two different points of view: Rill, now known as May, who experienced horrors most of us can’t even begin to imagine; and Avery, a former Federal Prosecutor and the Daughter of a Senator, who feels the need to live up to her families’ expectations at all times.

This story was powerful and I loved the way it unfolded in alternating voices and time periods. It was the perfect blend of past & present. But, the real magic is creating characters we care for, cheer for, and want to champion. It may have taken a lifetime, but the truth has a way of freeing itself, exposing crimes and scandal, but it also brought out an incredible family saga that is both inspirational and heartwarming. This is the face of an evil ass woman. She should be listed with Charles Manson, Jeffery Dahmer and all those other serial killers. While this novel is based on historical events and real persons who existed in Tennessee in the first half of the 20th century, preying on poor families and their children, I found that I had great difficulty relating to it, primarily because of the contemporary story and the primary protagonist. My thoughts vary on this book. Some aspects are well done and the expose of the decades-long adoption ring in Memphis is both interesting and abhorrent. But the total presentation still bothers me, particularly the "heroine" of the contemporary story, who might have stepped out of a romance novel. I wonder how this could have been done differently. At the TCHS, each of the children face abuse, neglect, and malnourishment. Her sister, Camellia, Rill's sister closest in age to her, is raped by one of the workers named Mr. Riggs. Shortly afterwards, she disappears, and Miss Tann tells Rill that she had never existed in the first place. Grieving the loss of her sister, Rill has no choice but to watch as each of her younger siblings are adopted by wealthy families and separated from her.Between the 1920’s-1950’s, The Tennessee Children’s Home Society was run by a matron named Georgia Tann. She illegally adopted out hundreds of children to the highest bidder. Those who stayed in the care of the home were abused, neglected, or worse. And sadly, many children died under her care. The tactics Ms. Tann used to scare parents into signing their children over were despicable and once that happened, there was nothing that could be done. She was the epitome of evil incarnate. Just ask Rill Foss and her four younger siblings, who found themselves in Tennessee Children’s Home Society one day, after their parents left them home alone. Rill thought life was a struggle before, but she had no idea how good they had it. One by one, Rill’s family fell apart and she lost control of everything. Did you search for more information about Georgia Tann and the Tenessee Children’s Home Society after reading Before We Were Yours? What did you learn? Based on what you learned, what do you think motivated Georgia Tann? Why were so many people willing to be complicit in her schemes when they knew children were suffering? Was Georgia’s network a creature of the political corruption and societal attitudes of its time or could something like this happen today? Happiness and emotion swell the room, stretching it like a helium balloon. Any more joy and we'll all float away. pg. 12 The successful federal prosecutor Avery Stafford is the daughter of a virtuous senator and the fiancée of a handsome guy called Elliot. this is an easy book to recommend if you enjoy historical fiction (beyond WWII), stories about the power of family, and the importance of personal history.

This book - how can I put in to words how it made me feel? It basically tore my heart into a million pieces but also filled it at the same time. How is that even possible? The answer is actually quite simple - the Foss children. Their tale was one of unimaginable loss and hardship yet it was also one of incredible love, hope and strength. 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. It was called Tennessee Children’s Home Society (TCHS), and it did exactly what you just read: it kidnapped children from low-income families and gave them away to affluent couples. It doesn’t take too long for Rill and the children to realize that they are not going to see their parents ever again. Avery travels there, and she does meet a Trent Turner, only it’s not the one with the info, but his grandson – who goes by the same name!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. 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. I couldn’t help but dig into the story. That was the spark that ignited Before We Were Yours." 5/29/17 in an interview on The Untold Story Guru. The woman’s ears hear but cannot grasp. All slips in and slips away. It is as if she is attempting to catch the tide, and it drains through her clenched fingers, and finally she floats out along with it.

Avery laments that the busy schedule expected of a Stafford has prevented her from spending time on Edisto Island with her sisters or Elliot. “Who chooses the schedules we keep? We do, I guess,” she tells herself but excuses this with, “the good life demands a lot of maintenance.” In our modern age are we too busy? Too preoccupied with accumulating things to actually enjoy what we have? Too dialed into media and social media? What are your thoughts on this? What would you like to change about your own schedule? Anything? What might you gain if you did? A compelling storyteller, Wingate juggles remarkably well with the two timelines, managing to keep the reader hooked chapter after chapter and, moreover, to profoundly touch him/her through the very same scenes which may have sounded too melodramatic in the hands of a less capable writer. Her life. And it’s extremely unlikely that your daughter would ever carry another pregnancy to term. If she were to try, the results could be . . .”Avery begins digging into the past. She is determined to uncover the connection between her grandmother, who suffers from dementia, and the mysterious woman that she met at the nursing home. In her brief moments of lucidity, her grandmother's appears to light up with recognition when she mentions May. However, she is less than forthcoming. Avery is left to follow the cryptic clues if she wants to unearth her grandmother's secrets, knowing it may be the downfall of her highly public family. There she finds a phone number from a certain Trent Turner living on Edisto Island who may know something about her grandmother’s past.

Perhaps spurred by grief, Briny becomes an alcoholic and loses his wife to blood poisoning. And although two of his children – Rill and Fern – later return, Briny is too far gone for redemption and kills himself by mistakenly capsizing his shanty boat. As indicated, I do love a story weaved around a part of history. But what I don't like is when an author just piles on more and more dread and horrible things to happen. It just becomes too much and after awhile, I think the story gets a bit ridiculous (yup, The Nightengale did the same thing) This novel pulls on the heartstrings, stirs outrage and horror, but at the end of the day the story was about familial bonds, and a spiritual connection that can not be broken, no matter what. The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Wingate, Lisa. Before We Were Yours. Wingate Media LLC, 2017.BEFORE WE WERE YOURS by LISA WINGATE is a heartbreaking, interesting, and a powerful Historical Fiction novel that was enlightening to read. This story was inspired by actual true life events about the Tennessee Children’s Home Society that was based in Memphis and the director Georgia Tann. This Memphis-based adoption organization was absolutely horrific in the way that they treated and exploited these children.