Before We Were Yours

by Lisa Wingate

This tale is based on actual events at the Memphis Tennessee Children’s Home Society in 1939 where Georgia Tann collected babies and sold them to adoptive parents. Sometimes she had police round them up from the streets. Other times she scammed unsuspecting parents when the groggy mothers of newborns were asked to sign papers which in fact turned the babies over to the state.

In this story, Rill (later renamed May), is 12 years old and given responsibility for her siblings when her mother has to go to the hospital for a difficult delivery. Scary men show up to their shanty boat telling the children lies and forcing them to go to the children’s home where as “swamp rats” they were treated despicably. 

This is a dual timeline book, and the protagonist in the present  time is Avery, a lawyer from the prominent Stafford political family in South Carolina. She is being groomed to take over her father’s political office if he succumbs to cancer.

In a chance meeting, May takes Avery’s bracelet, a dragonfly bracelet that is a family heirloom given to Avery by her Grandma Judy. In recovering the jewelry, Avery discovers a mysterious connection. Despite Judy’s gradually succumbing to Alzheimer’s, Avery pursues the relationship between the two women.

Before We Were Yours reveals a very sad series of events in U.S. history. Georgia Tann was a ruthless woman who took advantage of poor families during the Depression as well as families hurting from childlessness. The book is complex but Lisa Wingate tells the story with compassion. She researched her topic well and created a fictional tale that is substantiated by reported events and melds the facts into a compelling story.

Rating: 5/5

Category: Historical Fiction

Notes: Random House has an online book club kit that has resources that any reader would find beneficial, whether reading the book individually or with a group.

Publication:  2017—Ballentine

Memorable Lines:

She stops short of repeating the woman’s naughty words. Camellia’s eaten enough soap to clean up the inside of a whale in her ten years. She’s practically been raised on it. It’s a wonder bubbles don’t pour out her ears.

There’s no denying that Magnolia Manor is more upscale than the nursing home May Crandall lives in, but both places face the same underlying challenge—how to provide dignity, care, and comfort as life turns difficult corners.

“A woman’s past need not predict her future. She can dance to new music if she chooses. Her own music. To hear the tune, she must only stop talking. To herself, I mean. We’re always trying to persuade ourselves of things.”