Before We Were Yours

Before We Were Yours, Lisa Wingate

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction

Gah, I have to start by saying its categorised on Netgalley as “women's fiction” and I HATE that title. Why shouldn't a man enjoy this book? Why do we rule out a whole section of readers under this stupid stereotyping? We shout Equality, and rightly so and then practice inequality in this unnecessary way. Ah well, rant over, now to the book which was Fabulous, gripping, unputdownable.

Its two stories, that at first don't seem to have a connection. There's Briny, Queenie and the family back in 1939, and Avery and her political family in the present time. Slowly as things draw on the two begin to merge. It took me til about 25% to really get hooked on the story, I loved the bit in the past but the present day story was quite enough to keep me reading and I did put aside at about 20% for something else....picked it up the next day intending to read to 50%, thinking it was one of those review books that I'd struggle with and would have to make myself read a bit each day, and found myself drawn in to the story and unable to put it down til the end :-) It was a fascinating read, a truly gripping story and chilling in that although this is fiction stories like it were real for hundreds of families. No-one really knows the true extent of the crime. All those families, fractured for profit was heartbreaking to me, and there were times in the story, Camilla for example, when I found myself tearing up. I still feel a bit choked thinking of that reality for all those poor kids, and parents who knew their children were somewhere but who were unable to find them, and had no legal rights to them even if they did. Sadly I suspect this Baby trade still goes on in too many parts of the world.
Madonna - remember when she adopted an “orphan” who was later proved to have living father and other relatives but they were poor so in our Western eyes that make taking him from his family to live with people thousands of miles away OK. It was that same kind of thinking that let this awful trade exist back then, the kids in the book were often described as “river rats” and inferred that their parents were poor so therefore they were doing the kids a service finding them new homes. The people adopting must have had questions, but suppressed them, especially as this was being sanctioned from the very highest in society.

I wasn't sure of Avery at first but quickly grew to love her, and when she first met Trent I could feel that attraction, though they were very much a backstory. I loved the way she was with May, so determined to find out the truth, and yet so respectful of May's feelings. She was doing something that from a political side could have been the downfall of her families political ambitions, but which was right. Should the truth be left alone? Of should people have a right to know where they come from? I'm with Avery, Truth is all, and I was glad she wasn't dissuaded from her quest.
It had a perfect ending, rounding things up wonderfully, but I still wondered about others in the story. I can't name them for spoiling things, but I kept thinking what happened to them, and wondering too about how the kids grew up, what kind of families and story they had. I guess you could go on ad-infinitum as each person would draw others into the story.
A wonderful story, harrowing at times but Lisa resisted the all too often temptation of making things too graphic. Sometimes its what isn't written that holds more power, what we imagine is worse than words on a page. Violence, written too often in many novels, loses its horror impact, and Lisa keeps it all “off the page” so to speak. It's not a novel full of horror though, its a horrible story in that it was reality for so many, but lightened by the friendships, the day to day life on the river, little things that meant so much when kids had nothing. What people forget sometimes is for kids, a poor but loving family is worth all the fine clothes, fancy food and ponies.

 Stars: Five, a heartbreaking read, but with moments that made me smile, like little sparks of light in the dark. A story well worth reading.
ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate is a highly emotional story of stolen children.
In the 1930's unattended children were rounded up and taken to the Tennessee Children's Home where they were sold for adoption. This is a story of one family's search for their other siblings. I found this book very moving and the story will stay with me for a long time. I would like to thank NetGalley and Quercus Books for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.