Before We Were Yours braids together two timelines: in 1939, Rill Foss and her younger siblings are taken from their family’s shantyboat on the Mississippi and delivered into the Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage; decades later, a South Carolina lawyer named Avery Stafford begins to suspect that her polished family history is hiding something. Wingate builds the novel out of small domestic details and withheld information, letting the horror of the real adoption scandal emerge slowly through the children’s point of view and the adult investigation.

WHY WE PICKED IT
Because it takes a widely unknown chapter of U.S. history—the Georgia Tann adoption scheme—and turns it into a readable, emotionally direct piece of historical fiction. Before We Were Yours is a strong pick for book clubs and readers who like multigenerational secrets, found family, and stories that sit between literary and commercial.

DETAILS
• Author: Lisa Wingate
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication Date: May 21, 2019
• Format: Paperback
• ISBN: 9780425284704
• Ships direct from distributor in 3–7 business days