I love their other books but this just doesn't do it for me. I think its because I am veering away from historical fiction

After I read Before We Were Yours, I was moved by the tales of the orphans that went through the Tennessee Children’s Home Society. The thought of thousands of children kidnapped in a modern society in the middle of America with the help of corrupt politicians is bewildering. They estimated number of children that died there is grievous. After Lisa’s novel was published, so many of the people who were stolen from their families began reaching out to her. She formed a reunion and documented many of their stories. These stories are equally beautiful and devastating. There are lives that turned out well and those that have suffered for generations because of torment.

There was one story that spoke to my heart. A couple had been offered a perfect boy and when they went to pick him up, they heard a baby whimpering in the corner of the room. The couple pushed past the operator of the orphanage to the baby. She lay there tongue tied and covered in a rash. They took that baby home against the wishes of the orphanage. This baby would grow up and later find out how Georgia Tann would place ugly or sick babies in the corner and let them starve to death. The estimates are that around 500 babies died there. This couple that refused the perfect child and chose the baby in need of care spoke volumes to my heart. The is beauty amidst the brokenness. Great read.

This book was graciously provided by the publisher for my review.

I was unsure if a non-fiction investigation of real-life adoptees from the Tennesee Children's Home Society would pack the same punch as "Before We Were Yours" by Lisa Wingate. This book lives up to the novel, and provides an interesting insight into the lives of children, now adults, who were victims of Georgia Tann and the TCHS adoption system which flourished in the 1940s. Here, Wingate and Judy Christie tell some of the stories of the children and families affected by Tann's corrupt system, and relate the efforts to reunite long lost siblings, cousins, and the whole group for a massive reunion in Memphis.

In Before and After, Julie Christie and Lisa Wingate share with us stories form the adoptees and their families who were affected by Georgia Tann and the Tennessee Children's Home Society. Beginning in 1923, the society was supposed to be assisting desperate mothers who needed assistance finding a good home for their children because of desperate situations. For some it was simply they could not keep a child for whatever reason, for others, they were tricked into accepting what these mothers thought were temporary help while they recovered from an illness or improved their financial situations. Children were a commodity to Georgia Tann and she ran a crooked business selling these precious children. She even sent out a catalog at Christmas for prospective buyers to choose from. Julie and Lisa began connecting with so many victims of Georgia Tann after Lisa Wingate published her fictional account, Before We Were Yours, of what so many children went through during those years. Before and After shares stories of the adults these children became on spite of what Georgia Tann did to them and their families. This book made me angry that this even went on, it made me cry at the stories, both good and bad, that these children lived. If you have not read Before We Were Yours, you should and then you should run back to purchase a copy of Before and After. This book is wonderful. Than you NetGalley and Random House-Ballantine books for the chance to read this book for an honest review.

Before and After is a passion project that is both heartbreaking and amazing. The horrible predatory behaviors of the Tennessee Childrens' Home Society separated countless children from their parents and made it very difficult for them ever to reunite. Thanks to the efforts of Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate, many of these children found each other and became their own support group. This book discusses the history of the individuals affected by this horrible and rarely discussed occurrence in both the situations that led them to be taken in on the first count and how their lives were affected. Bring yourself a box of tissues, because this one is a tearjerker.

Have you read Before We Were Yours?

If the answer to that is no, you need to drop whatever it is you are doing, go get yourself a copy, and start reading. Then come back to read this review.

If the answer is yes, then you know all about Georgia Tann and the horrific things she did while running the Tennessee Children’s Home Society in Memphis Tennessee. Selling children, stealing babies and putting them up for adoption, letting the kids in her care live in filth and die from sickness and lack of care. She made millions off of selling children in adoptions, all while having the legal system players in her back pocket. Where are those children today?

This book is their story. It’s the story of those adopted out by Georgia Tann, or of their families as they searched to find out more about the adoption that lead them to where they are today. These stories are heartbreaking, but also hopeful. I am so glad that so many people were able to find out more about their family and get to visit with others that had been through a similar adoption process. This book is truly beautiful.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review. This is an outstanding nonfiction book that goes along with Lisa Wingate’s novel, Before We Were Yours. . This book delves into the lives of many people who were adopted from Georgia Tann’s unethical and horrible adoption agency in Tennessee between the 1920’s and 1950. . The authors sought out the adoptees for a very emotional reunion and to help them reunite with family members. The various stories were very interesting and heartbreaking. Many times, Georgia Tann lied to the adoptive parents about the children they were getting and also to the birth mothers. She was a very evil and twisted personality. The sad part is that she died before all this came out!

Before and After is the perfect title for this book. It is a collection of true life stories of the how and why babies and children ended up in the hands of Georgia Tann, the women responsible for operating a very unorthodox orphanage in Tennessee, and then after being raised by their adoptive parents to finally find that they have family and siblings in the world. Lisa Wingate's Before we were Yours sets the stage for this real life book. Read them both. They are awesome books.

So moving. Reading the true stories about adoptees, their biological parents and the parents that adopted them was so emotional. Each story so unique. The gut wrenching decisions parents had to make and the horrors these children endured throughout their lives are stories everyone should read. It is unfathomable to me how this was allowed to take place.

UUUUGGGGHHHH...why do I torture myself? I really didn't like the book, Before We Were Yours. yet decided to give this book a try.
Over 20% of this book is the authors patting themselves on the back for getting a "reunion" together. The authors write about what THEY were doing, how THEY felt, why THEY were doing this...it got really OLD very quickly.

The part that I loved was the stories of those who were adopted. I liked to hear how they found lost relatives.
Overall the majority of them were better off being adopted.
I had to wonder if NOT every adoptee feels this way, not just those that were taken by Georgia Tann.

This book was unnecessary and more to boost the authors egos then to provide any answers to the adoptees.

This book was not what I expected nor wanted.

This is a collection of real life stories of children (now adults) and what they went through at Tann's Tennessee "orphanage". If you have read Before We Were Yours then you know that book deals with Tann and her practices as fiction. This book tells the real stories of children and families who actually went through it. I highly recommend it.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy free of charge. This is my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

First of all, I can not imagine how the authors were able to listen to all the stories of the victims of Georgia Tann. Tann being the notorious child trafficker, who stole and sold countless children from 1924-1950 under the guise of the Children's Home Society in Tennessee. Some of the stories where happy but most were not. It's unimaginable the pain and frustration these children and birth parents underwent. The book was well written and offered interesting narratives of several of the victims. I found it difficult to read because of the hurt and pain suffered by so many.

THIS book had me in tears, staying up late to see the next person's story. Made me want to reread Before We Were Yours immediatley. What a labor of love this book is....for the interviewers and interviewees. Sometimes, with historical fiction, you get so lost in the story and beloved characters, that you forget it is based in fact. It was both fascinating and at the same time heart-breaking to read the true life stories of the children (now adults) and their expereiences with Georgia Tann and the Tennessee Children's Home Society. This amazing book, reminded me and I'm sure others.....that the evil wrought upon these children impacted families for generations.....and still resonates today within many families across the United States. Thank you Judy Christie and Lisa Windgate for allowing theses stories to be told.

I received an ARC of this book via @netgalley. Thank you for that.

I was interested in this book once I saw it dealt with the same subject matter as Before We Were Yours, Before We Were Yours absolutely wrecked me in all of the best ways and left me thinking about it weeks later. So when I saw this was real life stories of children who went through Georgia Tann's system I knew I had to read it. Unfortunately, I think I had too high of expectations.

I found this book to be lacking emotion. This is a highly sensitive subject matter and I was expecting to need to grab the tissues. So it was surprising to me that I couldn't connect with any of the people in this book. It felt like we were kept at a distance, I was seeing them from afar rather than really getting to know their stories. Part of this might be the amount of stories being told. Rather than focusing on a select few, we are introduced to a multitude of families effected by Tann. To me this wasn't a smart choice. I understand thousands went through those doors, but by introducing so many people we only get a teaser to their story. I wanted so much more!

The only redeeming quality for me here was getting a glimpse into my own family. My mother found out she was adopted and had step siblings in her thirties. So I was able to connect with some of the children that were interviewed here as well as understand my mother a bit more. If you had family members that were adopted, I think you might enjoy this book. But otherwise, I would probably pass.

I'm struggling with writing this review because I expected this book to wreck me, but that wasn't the case. Because of how short each person's story was I had a hard time connecting with the characters and I feel this book would have been better if they focused on only a few stories. I really wanted to love this one, but ultimately I was indifferent. This topic had the opportunity to be a great book, but it fell short.

Before and After documents more of Georgia Tann's reprehensible actions. Wingate's novel struck a chord with so many who were adopted and had many unanswered questions. This was such a compelling and heartbreaking read. So many lives affected by a vile woman who played God and profited from it. I enjoyed reading the individual stories, although some reunions were not so joyous. Anyone who read Wingate's book just has to read this book as well.

If you read the book, Before I Was Yours, by Lisa Wingate, you read a historical novel about an Orphanage run by Georgia Tann , which was a black-market baby business at the Tennessee Children's Home Society in Memphis,Tennessee, between the 1920's to 1950.
Lisa's book, brought new awareness of Tann's lucrative career in child trafficking, where much of the profit from the sale of the children went straight into Tann's pocket, under the guise of transportation and court fees.
In this book Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate, documented the stories of 15 adoptees, who were now just finding out about what happened to them as children, or meeting for the first time with others who went through the same thing as they did.
Many have been able to find relatives, which was very hard as they had no real information to go on, names changed as babies and laws that blocked their search until recently.
This was a heart warming look at the resilience of many people as we get a view of what their lives were like both before and after their adoptions.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing
Group-Ballantine for the ARC of this book.

I was fascinated with Before and After: The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children's Home Society all the way through. I give it five stars.

This is my 3rd book about the TN Children's Home adoption scandal and it was just as captivating as the others. Wonderfully organized chapters tell the stories of real life children whose lives mirror those fictional characters in Before We Were Yours.

When I read "Before We Were Yours" by Lisa Wingate, I was completely enthralled by the story of young children stolen from their homes and sold to new homes. When I found out it was based on true events, I became appalled. How did this happen? How could it have been allowed, and for years? It made my heart hurt. I read other articles on Georgia Tann and her legacy of pain and was simply devastated for the families. When this book popped up on NetGalley, I knew I needed to read it. The stories that people have to tell, the things they went through, the way their lives were transformed: these stories need to be heard and people need to know. This never needs to happen again! Only in knowing can we prevent a similar tragedy. Also, hearing some of the stories related in this book, opened my eyes to truths that the first story didn't cover entirely: siblings who grew up without brothers because they were stolen from the hospital, parents who fought expensive legal battles for their children's return, daughters hurt by their mother because she spent her life so angry at what happened to her. I found my heart breaking all over again, but I also found something else: hope. These stories all exemplify hope: hope in the future, hope in the present, and hope for families to be reunited! If you haven't read Before We Were Yours, then go get it and read it, then read this one. If you have, then you should also read this one. You will be glad you did!
I received a free copy of this story from NetGalley for my honest review. All opinions are my own.