Before We Were Yours

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Many prominent people adopted children from the home including Joan Crawford, June Allyson, and the NY governor.

Along the way, Ollie and Nessa form an unlikely band with others like themselves, struggling to stay one step ahead of those who seek to exploit them . There is so much talk of beautifully groomed people and lawns and flower beds in the contemporary story, that I grew tired of reading it. Twelve-Year-Old Rill Foss And Her Four Younger Siblings Live A Magical Life Aboard Their Family's Mississippi River Shantyboat.If I was to complain about anything, it would be the way the characters frequently have whole conversations without specific names, just to keep the reader guessing who is who, even when it doesn't make sense for them to withhold the person's name. One night her parents have to leave all five children home alone to rush their mother to the hospital. Told from two different points of view: Rill, now known as May, who experienced horrors most of us can’t even begin to imagine; and Avery, a former Federal Prosecutor and the Daughter of a Senator, who feels the need to live up to her families’ expectations at all times. As the story progresses it is obvious that the story lines are going to meet but how they get there is the real gem of this book.

The author explains in her note that the characters are fictional but the place and the circumstances and the woman who perpetrated these acts are real. While the subject matter is a tough one, the book is very well done and the storylines are intertwined expertly. This novel follows the lives of the five Foss siblings who grow up living on a Mississippi River shantyboat with their parents in 1939.This book begins in Memphis in 1939 when twelve year old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings are awaiting the birth of another sibling. However, while I appreciated learning about the children’s story, I didn't care for the writing style.

I do realize that many, if not most readers have or may disagree with me, but I can only speak from my experience. This Memphis-based adoption organization was absolutely horrific in the way that they treated and exploited these children. Some aspects are well done and the expose of the decades-long adoption ring in Memphis is both interesting and abhorrent. She charged exorbitant fees for 'adoption' fees and even blackmailed parents into paying more money. Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.Not the sort who would intentionally bring about the catastrophic unraveling that is only, this moment, beginning. Her work has won or been nominated for many awards, including the Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize, the Oklahoma Book Award, the Carol Award, the Christy Award, and the RT Reviewers' Choice Award.