Before We Were Yours: A Novel Paperback – November 29, 2022

What a treasure this book is. It’s heartbreaking, has a mystery of some sorts and a mini love story. Most importantly though is the love of family, in all generations, and how that love can strengthen you and keep you safe.The story is told in chapters, reflecting back to the past then flipping to the present day. It’s told exceptionally well that each past era chapter explains enough to keep the reader invested to know the outcomes. The present day chapters are finding the mystery and putting the pieces together on who was in the photo and how they were connected.The fact that this novel is based on true events makes it even more compelling because I felt even greater for these kids and what they went through. It also made me root for them trying to survive and get their next meal. When a book can evoke so many emotions and feeling towards characters, you know it’s a brilliant one and well worth the read.

This is one that is best read slowly, despite the urge to fly through it. The pages are so well written that the words and the story deserve time to marinate. A deeply colorful and touching tale. One of my favorite reads of the year.

My sister recommended this book and I wanted to see if we liked to read the same things. This is a well-written novel that alternates between past and present, allowing us to understand what happened to the characters and how they were discovered fifty years later or so. Queenie and Briny lived in a boathouse with their five children. They lived a simple but harmonious and loving life. Queenie was pregnant again and she had to be taken to a hospital because the delivery was difficult. While her children were waiting for them to return, somebody deceived them, telling them they would take them to their parents, and abducted them to take them to a house in terrible conditions, where many more children were found: dirty, hungry, and afraid of the people in charge of them. These people made a lot of money selling the children to wealthy people who wanted to adopt. May, the eldest girl of the 5, describes what they lived there. Fifty years later, the truth about what happened to these children was uncovered thanks to the persistence of a girl who was convinced that something was amiss. The book is interesting, flows easily, but I wanted to finish reading it as soon as possible. The description of the lives of the children living in that terrible house made me feel very uneasy and anxious. I commend the writer for making this terrible situation known. Unfortunately, it is not fantasy.

This is an absolutely fantastic book and almost unimaginable story. This book is completely out of my reading lane, however, I loved it and could not wait to get back to it. I had heard and read of many stories about adoption and illegal adoption services but this heartwarming, heart wrenching account of the Foss Family and their relatives (known & unknown) is an unbelievable eye opener! The compassion and consideration that Lisa Wingate demonstrates and explains is life changing to both the characters and the readers. The secret involvement of so many high profile players is almost mind-blowing! This story was so informative, so raw, so unbelievably moving that it is hard to imagine it ever happening!I would highly recommend this book to all mature readers no matter what your preferred genre!

This book is so amazing! I can see the "Arcadia" on the river and imagine the life they livedtogether as a family. The love they shared out weighed the hardships they endured.This was such a compelling story, so heartbreaking and warm feelings also. The "adoption home" was beyond comprehension, to treat children as such. I cried numerous reading the occurrences.I enjoyed the characters in the book tremendously. Rill (May) was beyond her years in age and maturity. I love how everything tied together! Many things happened that truly surprised me.I can't recommend this book enough! I will definitely be looking for more books by Lisa Wingate!

Such a creative, fun, intwined story…I may read it again to really absorb all of the details and visit with the characters again.

A story of the past where children were stolen and sold, where families were ripped apart, and where poverty and wealth determined the fates of the innocent.Flash forward to present day politics and a political family with unknown secrets. The book went back and forth between a horrific past and present day discoveries. The storied past was tragic, even evil, yet the present day was about discovering the truth of the past. The present was also romantic and redemptive which made the book a really good read.