Noteworthy Reads of 2018

It's time again to pick and choose the books for my 2019 reading challenge but before I do that post, I'd like to finish up with some reviews of additional books that were read in 2018.

Lisa Wingate's Before We Were Yours, is one of those books. Wingate's tale is based on the true story of the Tennessee Children's Home (for orphans) during the depression and into the 1950's and how children were actually stolen from their (often poor) parents and sold as orphans to people who could afford the outrageous prices.

I'm trying to simplify and reduce the amount of books that I have on my shelves but after reading a preview of Before We Were Yours, I had to buy it when I saw it in the bookstore. It's really good, even compelling, and brings to light the astonishing practice of selling children as orphans to families that could afford to “buy” one and for various reasons did not have a child of their own. The author does this by using a fictional family to tell the story of very real things that actually happened to the children who ended up in the Tennessee Children's Home. My heart breaks for the children who were harmed or killed by these outrageous practices. Georgia Tann seems to be a very evil woman who profited from and engaged in or allowed abuse of these children as a result of them being stolen from their homes and families, knowing that they were not really orphans.

 

The author has a story telling gift and richly describes the circumstances of the characters. Rill Foss, the main character, is a 12 year old girl, she is tasked with trying to keep the family together, and you see the story unfold from her perspective. It pulls your heartstrings but has an uplifting ending. You will want to stay up late to keep reading it.