One of the last books that I read was Before and After, which focused on Georgia Tann and the survivors of her black market baby business which she ran through the Tennessee Children's Home Society (TCHS).
Before We Were Yours is the fictionalization of a family directly affected by TCHS.
It's told in two parts.
One storyline includes Rill and her 4 siblings who live on a shantyboat. They're river gypsies through and through and have no desire to live any other way. But when their mother Queenie goes into labor with twins, she and husband, Briny, take off to the hospital in an attempt to save her and the babies. Little do they know Georgia Tann is about to enter their lives.
The other storyline follows Avery Stafford, a young lawyer who has moved home to help her ailing father with his next political move. When Grandma Judy begins losing her sense to dementia, they decide the best move is to put her in a top of the line care facility. In an attempt to make the political gossip die out, Avery and her father attend another care facility where they meet an elderly woman by the name of May......
May goes on to steal Avery's heirloom dragonfly bracelet. Her mind made her believe that bracelet belongs to her and her sisters.....which isn't entirely wrong.
The two storylines obviously overlap to bring out the horrors of TCHS. Their lives become intertwined in a secret that had been kept away for more than 50 years.
Personally, I enjoyed reading Rill's story far more than Avery's.
Rill tells the tale of being ripped away from the shantyboat, from the only life they ever knew and thrown into a dark home for adoptees. The abuse they were dealt at the hands of the TCHS workers made me sick to my stomach. The life Rill and Fern live after TCHS is like nothing they every expected. But they learn that family doesn't always have to be related by blood.
But when those secrets come bubbling back up, I believe these families deserve to hear the history of their bloodline. Two sisters who had never met in 50 years is astonishing. There are still families today affected by Georgia Tann's antics and some that will never know their history.
Looking for the companion book?
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