They say home is where the heart is, but what if your heart gets left behind?

Before We Were Yours is a heart wrenching story told in a now and then narrative based on the notorious scandal of Georgia Tann, who directed an adoption agency from the 1920s to the 1950s which stole children from the poor and sold them to the highest bidder.

It is 1939, and 12 year old Rill Foss is living her perfect life.  She loves her parents dearly as well as her four younger siblings.  Unfortunately, one night everything changes when her father takes her mother, who is in labor with twins, to the hospital on a midwife’s orders.  Next, strangers whisk Rill and her siblings off to what she expects will be the hospital, but ends up being an orphanage.  Rill slowly realizes they may not see their parents again for awhile, and takes pains to try to keep her siblings together in an impossible situation.

Present day Aiken, South Carolina, Avery Stafford leads a seemingly charmed life – daughter of a politician, engaged to be married, a former prosecutor from a perfect and prominent family.  Until one day, Avery stumbles upon her grandmother’s long kept secret.

There is so much to say about this book.  It was hopeful, it was incredibly sad, but it also felt important.  Rill was such a strong and likeable force – she was never rude or impolite, but loved her siblings with an unparalleled ferocity.  It was heartbreaking to follow her struggles, but I remained hopeful things would turn around.  I could not put this book down as I was excited to see how the now and then narrative would tie together and where things would end up.  Before picking this book up, I knew nothing about Georgia Tann or her notorious scandal.  It was incredible to learn in the context of Rill’s powerful story.

If you love historical fiction, this is a no brainer.  It is not for the faint of heart, but I absolutely loved it and hope you will too!

Verdict:  Read it! (4.5/5 stars)
Length:  342 pages
When: You’re in the mood for heart wrenching historical fiction.
Quote: “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.”
Also read:  The Nightingale and The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah (B2C Review)

Buy Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate