This book is written by Lisa Wingate.
“A woman’s past need not predict her future. She can dance to new music if she chooses. Her own music. To hear the tune, she must only stop talking. To herself, I mean. We’re always trying to persuade ourselves of things.”
Lisa Wingate, the author of Before We Were Yours, tries to expose the true story of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society (TCHS) through a fictional account of a family who lived in a shanty boat that floated along the Mississippi River. This family becomes one of the many victims of the TCHS. The TCHS portrayed themselves as a home for lost or left children, a home that focused on finding them suitable homes. However, the TCHS actually stole children and babies from families that society looked down upon. Although Wingate’s story is fictional, the story rings true for many families who became victims of the TCHS.
Wingate chooses to keep the real name of the director of TCHS for her story, Georgia Tann. Tann ran this orphanage for about 30 years in Memphis. Some children died under her supervision, and many were tortured. This story also highlights the involvement of many other people within the community, such as police officers, doctors and government officials. They allowed Tann to commit these atrocities to so many families. At the end of the book, Wingate includes the many sources she read to gain a better understanding of the TCHS for her book (I will include these sources at the bottom of this post).
While reading this story, the one thing I kept asking myself was, who was going to stick up for these families and these children? Unfortunately, no one ever does. No adult comes to the rescue of these children. The reality is many children within this orphanage had to fend for themselves and try to take care of themselves until the horror was over.
A little bit about the book…
Unlike my other posts, I will not focus too much on describing the details of this story since the description is quite clear, however, I will mention some important details.
This story is told through the perspective of the character Rill Foss. Rill is the oldest of the five Foss children. She was born to a loving mother and father who lived in a shanty boat on the Mississippi River. Periodically, the family anchored in different towns so that the children could attend school. The Foss parents loved and cherished their children. The love Rill experienced from her parents gives her the continued courage to fight and protect herself and her siblings. She is determined to bring them back safely to their home on board the Arcadia.
The other main character in this book is Avery Stafford. She is a very different character than Rill. She is born into a very wealthy, upper-class family in South Carolina. Avery is a successful lawyer from New York City who has returned home to support her sick father, the Senator of South Carolina. Avery knows she is being groomed to one day become Senator herself to walk in the footsteps of her father. She shadows her father to many different events trying to understand more of this world she may be thrown into. Throughout this journey, she continuously feels like something is missing and wonders if this is really the life she wants for herself. She is also engaged to a man who she slowly realizes she may not love anymore. It is at one of her fathers’ events that she runs into a woman named May Crandall. Avery’s life from this moment on changes as she tries to decipher what May is telling her and how Avery’s family is involved.
My review of the book…
“But the love of sisters needs no words. It does not depend on memories, or mementos, or proof. It runs as deep as a heartbeat. It is as ever-present as a pulse.”
I found the story to be absolutely captivating from the first chapter. I was very interested in the Foss family and how they lived their life on board the Arcadia. This story gives readers a brief look into the life of how some impoverished Americans lived. I knew little about these “shanty boat” people; therefore, I was fascinated to hear about how they survived the depression. Wingate also includes a small information section at the back of the book giving more details about Mississippi’s shanty boat people.
Additionally, she described the kidnapping of the Foss children very well. This shows how involved law enforcement was in taking these children to the TCHS. She also showed how the adults manipulated these children into coming with them, lying to them to gain their trust. The way the Foss children were taken from their parents was shocking and unimaginable.
Wingate described life at TCHS with incredible detail while also sparring you the sickening reality of some aspects of the torture some children experienced within the facility. When it came to the more horrific events at TCHS I was glad that Wingate provided only the detail necessary.
Rill Foss’s character development is also very well done. You get a real sense of how this 12-year-old girl becomes the caregiver to her siblings. You see her develop into a strong young woman fighting for her family.
Wingate does a great job at intertwining the two stories of Rill and Avery, always making you wonder what their connection will be. Is Avery related to any of Rill’s lost siblings? Is Avery’s grandmother a friend who helped expose TCHS? Wingate always keeps you on your toes, wondering how they are connected while never tiring the reader with each of their stories’ details.
I really enjoyed this book, but some parts are pretty disturbing, which could make it difficult for some people to get through.
About the Author:
Lisa Wingate has written many best selling books, receiving many rewards for her work. Prior to writing she was a journalist.
Other Wingate books:
Before and After
The Book of Lost Friends
Carolina Chronicles
Books she used to help write about the Tennessee Children’s Home Society:
Pricing the Priceless Child: The Changing Social Value of Children by Viviana A. Zelizer
Babies for Sale: The Tennessee Children’s Home Adoption Scandal by Linda Tollett Austin
Alone in the World: Orphans and Orphanages in America by Catherine Reef
The Baby Thief: The Untold Story of Georgia Tann, the Baby Seller Who Corrupted Adoption by Barbara Bisantz Raymond
Short stories at the end of the book:
The River Gypsies By Lisa Wingate
The Shanty-Boat People (excerpt) By: Charles Buxton Going
Turning Pages with Trish 