This is the 2nd book I've read by this author. The first one was called The Prayer Box and definitely no where near as good as this one.
This is based on historical facts but has been fictionalized. It will make you so thankful for the adoption laws we now have in place, here in the USA. My teacher heart AND my mommy heart just broke in two reading this story. And yes, I remember when the perp was in the news...and feeling so annoyed that she died before she could be punished. But...she's being punished now, isn't she??
STORY SUMMARY
It is 1939. The story takes place in the past, in Memphis, Tennessee and in the present in South Carolina.
Rill Foss is the oldest of 3 younger sisters (Camellia, Lark, and Fern) and of a younger, baby brother named Gabion (Gabby for short). Rill and her siblings are poor. They are being raised by their biological parents, Briny and Queenie. They live on a riverboat named Arcadia, on the Mississippi River. They know the river. They knows its ways. They are poor but they all love each other fiercely and look out for one another. Their life seems magical.
One hot summer night, during a horrible thunderstorm, their father needs to rush their mother to the hospital because she is about to give birth to twins and there are major complications. The mid-wife cannot help. Rill is left to care for her siblings and their old friend Zede will be along in the morning to check on them.
But....some strangers arrive and take the children away. They are placed in the Tennessee Children's Home Society orphanage. This place is headed up by the very evil Georgia Tann (who is one of America's most notorious criminals who ran the trafficking ring from 1920s-1950).
Rill is led to believe that her parents will be back to pick them up after her mother gets better. But this doesn't happen. She quickly learns the very dark truth of what is going on in this new "home".
Meanwhile, in present day Aiken, South Carolina, Avery Stafford, a successful lawyer who just turned 30, is back from her apartment in Washington, D.C. to help her father, Wells Stafford, a local senator, do some fund raising. He is dealing with cancer and is determined to beat it. Avery is being prepped to follow in her father's footsteps. She was born into a life of much wealth and privilege. She has 2 older sisters who are married with children and live nearby. Her parents, Honeybee and Wells, are anxious for Avery to finalize her wedding plans with her long time fiance and best friend Elliot. Elliot also comes from a family of wealth and privilege. Elliot is back in Washington, D.C. but they talk often on the phone or text one another. Neither one is moving forward to a wedding day. They seem content to just be engaged.
One day, Avery accompanies her father on an outing to a nursing home. Her own grandmother Judy, her father's mother, is in a Memory Care Facility called Magnolia Manor which is a very private nursing home for the very wealthy. While at this public nursing home "meet and greet the senator" she has a chance encounter with one of the elderly patients named May Crandell.
And her life begins to change. May whispers the name "Fern??" to Avery....and this thrusts Avery into digging around in her grandmother's past.
She meets a man named Trent Turner. Who is Trent? How and why does her Grandma Judy know him?
She begins to explore her family's long-hidden history..and what she finds is shocking.
MY THOUGHTS
This story, although fiction, is based on the very real facts of a Memphis-based adoption organization that kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the United States. Even Hollywood actors and actresses "bought" children they thought they were legitimately adopting. (Joan Crawford is one, as well as June Allyson and her husband Dick Powell).
The characters in this story are so life-like. Georgia Tann is the actual name of the woman who led this child trafficking ring which in reality is what it was.
The children in the orphanage were emotionally and physically abused and in some cases sexually abused. It is abhorrant to me that this took place yet it doesn't surprise me. I do remember some of this story making its way to the press in 1995. Sadly, Georgia Tann died of uterine cancer just as this agency and all her evil ways were coming to ligth, and she was never punished for her crimes as she died in 1950.
Some survivors did re-unite with their biological families. Many children died while in Georgia Tann's care.
Some quotes from the book that I found to be very profound were:
"Life can turn on a dime....we plan our days, but we don't control them." (pg 95, Before We Were Yours, c. 2017)
"I learned that you need not be born into a family to be loved by one" (pg 314, Before We Were Yours, c. 2017)
"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." (pg 317, Before We Were Yours, c. 2017)
This book has left a deep imprint on my heart strings. I truly believe all teachers, social workers, psychologists, family therapists, ministers, and parents, should read this book. Actually, all Americans should read this book and see how history has changed our policies.
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 14 and older.
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 10.
2 comments:
I just finished and reviewed this book, too. Such a heartbreaking situation.
I thought it was a book everyone should read too. This kind of history should not be forgotten and we should learn from and do everything we can to not let it happen.
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