Judy Christie

Lisa Wingate’s “Before We Were Yours” is a fictional account of Georgia Tann and her illegally obtaining kids and babies to illegally adopt out. With the popularity of that book, she and Judy Christie decided to reach out to many of those “kids” (now adults, of course) to hear their stories and to set up a reunion.

I listened to the audio and that may have been my downfall. Because there were multiple individual stories to this one, it was more similar to a book of essays or short stories, so (because – audio) when I missed parts, it was hard to “catch up” on what I’d missed before we moved on to the next story. It did seem like many of the adopted kids had good lives, in the end.

There was some talk at the end about one of the reunion attendees not having a great home life post-adoption and that she was heartened to find others out there with a similar story – that is, she wasn’t alone in that. But if those stories were told in this book, I missed them. The entire story (Georgia Tann) is sad, but I suspect I might have liked this more if I’d actually read it. In any case, I’m still rating it ok.… (more)

If you have read the fictional book Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate, this is the non-fiction story of the actual children who came from the Tennessee Home for Children in Memphis. The authors arranged a reunion for adoptees who were placed in the home in the 1930's and 1940's. Most of the adopted children were age 70 or above and were still looking for news of parents or siblings. Most of them were adopted as infants, but a few remember being in the Tennessee Home and tell the story of being separated from their families. Their stories are hopeful and heartbreaking, but most leave the reunion knowing they are not alone and others have the same feelings as they do.… (more)

I feel that I read part 2 before part 1. No really. I need to read the fiction book that inspired all of the events, stories, and reunions of "Before and After." However, I am fascinated by this topic (Tennessee Home Society and all the ways they messed with families) and everything else. So I really would like to do more reading.

This would be perfect for my Mom--she loves genealogy. This book is truly a historical buff's dream. And the message of sharing stories is HUGE. It's giving a voice. It's not letting a terrible woman named Georgia Tann getting in the way. She did that enough.… (more)