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S'està carregant… Before We Were Yours (2017)de Lisa Wingate
Top Five Books of 2020 (128) GAL Book Club (1) Books Read in 2019 (331) » 7 més Historical Fiction (400) Books Read in 2018 (1,054) Books Read in 2021 (4,512) Books Read in 2020 (4,213) Books Tagged Abuse (95) Books to Read (49) S'està carregant…
Apunta't a LibraryThing per saber si aquest llibre et pot agradar. No hi ha cap discussió a Converses sobre aquesta obra. This is a dual timeline story set in the Southern US. The modern-day tale involves our female protagonist (of a high-profile political family) trying to learn about the history of her grandmother, now suffering from dementia. The earlier set story (in the 1940s?) centers on the grandmother as a child, when she was a victim of the Tennessee Children's Home Society’ scam involving the sale of “orphans”. This plot stemmed from a shocking true-life scandal. I felt that the story dragged on and felt repetitive. The characters seemed to always be having the same thoughts and worries, with slow advancement of the plot. And it was a little too sappy for my tastes. (I listened to it on an audiobook.) The characters in this historical fiction were beautifully drawn and the story was compelling. In telling the tale of a real and heartbreaking chapter of history regarding children as commodities in a money-making adoption scheme, Ms. Wingate also explored the theme of excavating oneself from the life we sometimes adopt because of others’ expectations for us. Sad, but beautiful story of a family of children taken illegally from their home so they could be ?sold? to rich families who wanted children.Kirkus: Avery Stafford, a lawyer, descendant of two prominent Southern families and daughter of a distinguished senator, discovers a family secret that alters her perspective on heritage.Wingate (Sisters, 2016, etc.) shifts the story in her latest novel between present and past as Avery uncovers evidence that her Grandma Judy was a victim of the Tennessee Children?s Home Society and is related to a woman Avery and her father meet when he visits a nursing home. Although Avery is living at home to help her parents through her father?s cancer treatment, she is also being groomed for her own political career. Readers learn that investigating her family?s past is not part of Avery's scripted existence, but Wingate's attempts to make her seem torn about this are never fully developed, and descriptions of her chemistry with a man she meets as she's searching are also unconvincing. Sections describing the real-life orphanage director Georgia Tann, who stole poor children, mistreated them, and placed them for adoption with wealthy clientsincluding Joan Crawford and June AllysonÂ¥are more vivid, as are passages about Grandma Judy and her siblings. Wingate?s fans and readers who enjoy family dramas will find enough to entertain them, and book clubs may enjoy dissecting the relationship and historical issues in the book.Wingate sheds light on a shameful true story of child exploitation but is less successful in engaging readers in her fictional characters' lives.
PremisDistincionsLlistes notables
Fiction.
Literature.
Historical Fiction.
HTML:THE BLOCKBUSTER HIT??Over two million copies sold! A New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly Bestseller ??Poignant, engrossing.???People ? ??Lisa Wingate takes an almost unthinkable chapter in our nation??s history and weaves a tale of enduring power.???Paula McLain Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family??s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge??until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children??s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents??but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility??s cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty. Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome fiancé, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis, a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family??s long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption. Based on one of America??s most notorious real-life scandals??in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country??Lisa Wingate??s riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong. Publishers Weekly??s #3 Longest-Running Bestseller of 2017 ? Winner of the Southern Book P No s'han trobat descripcions de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — S'està carregant… GèneresClassificació Decimal de Dewey (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LCC (Clas. Bibl. Congrés EUA)ValoracióMitjana:
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This book is based on actual events. The stories of Rill and Avery are fiction but some of the facts around the Tennessee Children's Home are factual. The kidnapping and eventual adoption of these "orphan" children was organized by Georgia Tann, Director. She had lots of influential people that looked the other way until she was eventually closed the center down after a state investigation into numerous instances of adoption fraud. ( )