For readers of Lisa Wingate’s, Before We Were Yours, this is a must read. Judy Christie takes you on a journey with a number of survivors (and their families ) of the Tennessee Children’s Home and the adoption scandal that took place in that state for almost 30 years. A heartbreaking yet wonderful story of resilience and tenacity. A cross section of those who thought they had wonderful adoptions and those that did not. Also heartwarming was how the individuals came together, bonded, and maybe had some healing. Some really emotional stories! The only unfortunate thing is that the culprit in all this, “Miss Tann”, who stole thousands of children, separated them from their parents, and profited mightily did not get her comeuppance. As one adoptee said, “ “maybe she is rotting in hell”.

‘Before and After’ is written with the heartbreaking touches of Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate.
This true story helps bring some closure to the children that were stolen and the families that were destroyed by Georgia Tann and The Tennessee Children’s Home Society in the late 1920’s through the late 1940’s.
It still leaves us with the same question...how could one woman be so evil as to steal babies from poor families?
If you’ve read ‘Before You Were Mine’, this is the must read follow up.

I find this book difficult to write a review for... maybe its because it is true non-fiction and something that I do not typically read. I must admit that the authors book, Before We Were Yours, is one of my favorite books. This is a semi-continuation of the book, in regards to actual people who lived the tale. I enjoyed reading the stories of the various families, and seeing how their individual stories ended. Having no adoption experience, with the exception of a small number of adopted students I have taught, it was an eye opening experience to read the stories.

Overall, this is a book to read AFTER you have read Before We Were Yours, and only if you want to have some in depth information about true stories.

Thank you to Net Galley and Random House for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. I also read Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate, and it left me wanting more information on this terrible period. To buy and sell children, to determine which are more desirable, to treat some horribly, and to have enough power to keep this going is heartbreaking. This book talks about some of the families, the children (now senior citizens), and how this affected them. In many cases, the family with whom they were placed were wonderful for them, but anyway you look at it, this was a piece of history that should never have been allowed to happen. Kudos to the authors because this is exactly the book I needed after the first.

A heart-breaking yet uplifting book all in one. This book chronicles stories of real children who were stolen or given away or taken in some other manner, taken to or near the Tennessee Children's Home Society in Memphis and then sold on the black market by Georgia Tann from the 1920's to 1950--while she claimed that the children were all orphans with no homes. These children are now grown up and delving into their pasts with their own children after reading Lisa Wingate's best selling novel "Before We Were Yours," which shed a new light on all of these illegal adoptions and the lucrative career that Georgia Tann had during this time period. The stories of how these children were taken from their birth families in some cases were absolutely terrible which lead to completely different lives for most of them, some good, some bad. A book not to be missed, definitely for fans of Wingate's novel from last year. Thanks so much to the publisher for the ARC. A very sad yet moving story of many displaced children caused by one evil woman.