Before We Were Yours

Many people are not aware of the Tennessee Children's Home Society Orphanage which was operated by Georgia Tann from the 1920s until 1950. This orphanage funneled through thousands of children, many of whom were kidnapped or taken from their parents without their permission and sold off to the wealthy. Cops and politicians were bribed or blackmailed for their cooperation. While in the orphanage, children were often abused, neglected, and malnourished. In her book Before We Were Yours, Lisa Wingate tells the story of the Fosses, a fictional family living in a river shanty on the Mississippi who are torn apart when the children are kidnapped and put into the orphanage. Told in alternating perspectives and times by the oldest daughter who struggles with guilt at having her siblings separated and her great niece who is a stranger trying to uncover her family's secret, Before We Were Yours is a beautifully written novel on loss and finding resilience in the worst of times.