Before We Were Yours | Lisa Wingate Review by Mohini Jugran

✨✨𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: 𝐁𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐖𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬

✨✨𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐚 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐞

✨✨𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: 𝐅𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭-𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠-𝐆𝐮𝐭-𝐖𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 😭😭😭

"That’s one of the paradoxes of life. You can’t have it all. You can have some of this and some of that or all of this and none of that."

Based on one of America’s most notorious real-life scandals—in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country—Lisa Wingate’s riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong.

Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge—until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents—but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility’s cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty.

Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome fiancé, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis, a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family’s long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption.

"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.”

✨✨The most heart-breaking thing about this one is that it's based on the real-life events. It's unimaginable to even think about the lives that have been shattered due to the greed of a few. Human greed really knows no bounds. I was absolutely engrossed in this tale of two women who are strangers to one-another and have no idea about the connection that they share. It was very gripping till the very last page and yesss, I cried constantly throughout the entire novel because it I felt so hopeless. Yet, it made my heart flutter. My first book by the author, it was sheer perfection. Please read the book. You'll thank me later.