Monday, August 20, 2018

Before We Were Yours

Title: Before We Were Yours
Author: Lisa Wingate
Published: June 6th 2017 by Ballantine Books
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 342 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

Be prepared for the ending of this book to confuse you and leave you with questions, yet fill your heart with hope.

Weaving this tale between present day Avery Stafford from a prominent southern political family and twelve-year-old Rill Foss, the eldest of a family of five children taken away from their family’s shanty boat the day after their mother goes into early labor with twin, and placed in the Tennessee Children’s Home Society in the 1930’s.

After having been found roaming an old shopping mall, Avery’s Grandma Judy is moved to a premiere elder care facility, one that can cause political fallout for the family. It is while Avery is at a less prestigious facility, for a political event, that she runs into Mae Crandall, and during a visit to Mae’s room, Avery sees a picture, a picture of Judy. Avery’s curiosity is piqued. Who is Mae and how does she know Judy.

With Judy’s wandering mind and Mae telling her only bits and pieces, Avery starts her gentle nudging into Judy’s past and with the help of Trent Turner, who has paperwork for Judy’s eyes only, that came from his grandfather, Avery and Trent kindle a friendship and begin their dig that can upend both their lives and possibly the political future of the Stafford family.

Lisa Wingate does an amazing job of slowly revealing the Foss story. There are several times, when the reader will stop, think, back up a couple of pages, reread, then let out a heavy exhale with a giant “oh”. This book is intense and may involve a second reading to get all of the nuances that you did not think were important during your first time through. An excellent book for a group discussion since every person that I have spoken to has taken something different away from their reading. Whether it is enlightenment into each character or their further understanding of the historical events that inspired this book, there are endless discussions that can come from the telling of the Foss story.

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