Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Book Review - Before We Were Yours

I got a little behind on reviews over the Christmas holiday so I am trying to catch up.

Before We Were YoursBefore We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Before We Were Yours is a historical fiction novel based on the Tennessee Children's Home Society scandal. The novel is written in 2 time periods - following Rill Foss in 1939 when her and her siblings were taken from her parents and in present day following Avery Stafford in Aiken, SC.

Rill's mother was having a hard labor on the family's shantyboat on the Mississippi River and her parents left the boat to get the help needed to save the babies and her mother. Left alone on the boat to fend for themselves, Rill and her 4 remaining siblings were taken into custody the next morning. And the fight began for Rill to keep her siblings together.

Avery has left her job out of state to help her father facing cancer while campaigning. At an event at a senior living facility, a resident approaches Avery and calls her by a different name. And it sends Avery into a tailspin and she starts investigating.

I read the follow up book, Before and After, before reading this book. I almost didn't read this one after reading about the horrors of Georgia Tann's reign in Tennessee. I had never heard of Tann or the TCHS before these books. It was quite eye opening.

I did enjoy the story and the fictionalization of the events that could have taken place. I felt like the story moved at a nice pace and that there were parts in the present day that caused enough conflict to create interest in the outcome. There was quite a lot of talk about everyone having the same blue eyes so I was starting to think that everyone was going to be announced as being related by the end of the book.


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3 comments:

Susan C said...

I will have to check this out since I live in Aiken SC! It’s always interesting to read fiction set ina familiar real life setting.

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Jennifer said...

It was a great book and so sad how it happened.