Written by Lisa Wingate, Before We Were Yours is a historical fiction piece based around actual events: Georgia Tanns, a woman who sold babies, and stole them, back in the early mid-century. This novel follows one family, who is made up but based on real stories, of river gypsies and the long lasting effects that this had on their family.
This book was hard to get into because the premise was known before hand, yet it took SO long to get to the part I was waiting for. It was a good story, and it was very realistic. There was a lot left unknown by the end, but some things were at least settled.
This is a great novel to read that shines a light on things that people don’t want to think about, things that actually happened. There are horrible people in this world, those who take babies from their mothers to sell to someone else who lost their child. It is possible that this did some good for those who were actually orphans. But, it did a lot of bad too.
If you don’t like to read about this kind of thing, than don’t. Otherwise, I thought it was a provoking read.
