Before We Were Yours: A Novel

THE BLOCKBUSTER HITOver two million copies sold! A New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly BestsellerPoignant, engrossing.People Lisa Wingate takes an almost unthinkable chapter in our nations history and weaves a tale of enduring power.Paula McLainMemphis, 1939. Twelveyearold Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their familys Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in chargeuntil strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Childrens Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parentsbut they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facilitys 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 fianc, 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 familys longhidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption.Based on one of Americas most notorious reallife scandalsin which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphisbased adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the countryLisa Wingates 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.Publishers Weeklys #3 LongestRunning Bestseller of 2017 Winner of the Southern Book Prize If All Arkansas Read the Same Book SelectionThis edition includes a new essay by the author about shantyboat life.