If you have read Lisa Wingate’s novel “Before We Were Yours”, which was an amazing five-star read for me, I’d recommend this book. The novel “Before We Were Yours” is a work of historical fiction based on the true-life story of child trafficker, Georgia Tann, who ran a black market adoption scheme at the scandalous Tennessee Children’s Home Society from the 1920’s to 1950’s. “Before and After” is a collection of real-life stories of just a few of the 5000+ people affected by these adoptions.

After the release of her novel “Before We Were Yours”, Lisa Wingate began to hear from people affected by Georgia Tann’s Tennessee Children’s Home Society scandal. Together with fellow author Judy Christie, they tell the stories of many of these adults’ childhood memories, along with recent stories of them finding members of their birth families. It’s amazing to hear so many real-life stories, and incredible how many of these adoptees were able to connect with members of their birth family, especially through the use of online resources such as Ancestry.com. I read this book in bits and pieces, as the format is a collection of different stories, and you do not need to read it straight through for continuity. This book did take me quite a while to get through, and it’s a bit slow in parts, but it was good overall. It’s very interesting to see both the positive and negative side of these experiences, since despite the scandalous adoptions most of the people had loving adoptive families, thus resulting in mixed feelings and emotions.

Overall, “Before and After” is a remarkable, inside look at the journeys of these survivors and their connections and relationships in their past and present lives. Through this book, I was able to learn even more about a piece of history I have never known about before reading “Before We Were Yours”.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 stars

I received a complimentary e-book copy of this book from Ballantine Books through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you to Judy Christie/Lisa Wingate, Ballantine Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

First off, this book is the non-fiction followup to the previous fictional work "Before We Were Yours" by Lisa Wingate. This book that I am reviewing, "Before We Were Yours", is about Georgia Tann, the evil director of a Memphis adoption agency that personally profited from selling babies to well-to-do families. The children up for adoption were kidnapped, stolen, and taken from their parents by horrific means in order to sell them for profit.

I strongly suggest reading "Before We Were Yours" before reading "Before and After" to have a basic understanding of what happened in a fictionalized setting before reading the true stories of the adopted children, adopted/birth parents, and adopted/birth families.

I went through so many emotions reading this book - anger, disbelief, happiness, relief, joy, and all of the other emotion spectrum. This book takes you on a roller-coaster ride that totally pays off. This book is a quick and easy read - I read in a little over a day.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book!

This is a follow-up to Lisa Wingate's incredible work of historical fiction "Before We Were Yours." Before and After relates how some of the survivors of Georgia Tann's adoption schemes reached out to the author following the publication of that book, and how they ultimately coordinated a reunion of those survivors. Judy Christie was also included to help record each of the survivors stories of their life, and how their adoption affected them. These stories, some happy, some sad, also show how the children of those adoptees were also affected. If you loved "Before We Were Yours," you will probably also want to read this. Many thanks to Netgalley and Ballantine books for an e-arc of this moving work of history. Solid 4 stars.

Never before has a book given me such a visceral reaction in just a few pages (the goosebumps went on and on).. "Before and After" by Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate has done just that. I guarantee that this book will be one of my top five for 2019. The stories that are shared in this book will touch you all the way to your soul..

Read if you: Have read Lisa Wingate’s Before We Were Yours and want to know more about the real-life stories behind the Tennessee Children’s Home Society.

Did you read the New York Times bestselling book,Before We Were Yours? If that story lingers with you, then you must read BEFORE AND AFTER. What a privilege and honor it is to read the complicated and sometimes tragic stories of families who were tricked,coerced, lied to, and stolen by Georgia Tann. While some children were given to loving families, others were not so fortunate. Over the course of a weekend, they share their stories and form connections in an unusual and unforgettable reunion with other TCHS adoptees. While all the stories were compelling, three were particularly heart wrenching and memorable: Sue Nell/Janie, Robert, and the final event of the weekend, the gathering at the memorial to the children who died at the TCHS.

While it is not entirely necessary to read Before We Were Yours before reading this, those who are familiar with the novel will definitely be enriched more than those who have not read it.

Many thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

This riveting story takes us back to a time in our history that is completely shocking. This story follows what happened after Wingate's novel Before We Were Yours hit the shelves and the reunion of some of the children and their families who were a part of the Tennessee Children's Home Society. These children tell stories of what they know about their life prior to being adopted, the forged and incorrect paperwork, and of course the reuniting their biological of relatives.

The best story I read in 2018 was Lisa Wingate's Before We Were Yours. I was blown away when I read about the Tennessee Children's Home Society and Georgia Tanns. From the 1920's until 1950 Georgia Tanns ran a so called adaption home. In 1950, once the truth came out, she was closed down. When I finished Lisa's book, I spent the next several days reading everything I could find on this subject. When I heard there would be another book, I could not wait to get my hands on it. This nonfiction follow up story by Judy Christie and Lisa is very well done and quit interesting. These incredible real life stories told by the survivors or their loved ones are incredible. Many people read Lisa's book and the story she told resonated with them. With all the emails and people talking with her after a book signing, it was realized that the adoptees story needed to be told. It is hard to believe that this could have happened and continued for thirty years. Bringing forth these accounts and getting the truth out there, let's pray this will never happen again. I recommend this book as well as Before We Were Yours, if you haven't already read it. I received a complimentary copy of this book from Random House Publishing through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

If you read Before We Were Yours than you'll definitely want to read this book.
It is a very moving and eye opening book from the people who were actually adopted from Georgia Tann.

This collaboration between Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate is the perfect follow up to Before We Were Yours. They brought to life the real people behind the adoption scandal referred to in the novel. While some adoptions resulted in heartbreak, there were also some that ended up in a better life for the children.
The main focus is on the emotional reunion stories of the adoptees and their families who finally have closure on their origins and finding “someone that looks like me”.

If you haven’t read Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate, please do so immediately. It’s a very good book that explores the real person of Georgia Tann, who ran a black market business of taking children from their parents and adopting them out to wealthy people. Her story is pretty incredible and there are even a few podcasts out there that discuss this historical villain.

Now there’s a follow up to Before We Were Yours, Before and After.

Here’s what you need to know:

The incredible, poignant true stories of victims of a notorious adoption scandal—some of whom learned the truth from Lisa Wingate’s bestselling novel Before We Were Yours and were reunited with birth family members as a result of its wide reach

From the 1920s to 1950, Georgia Tann ran a black-market baby business at the Tennessee Children’s Home Society in Memphis. She offered up more than 5,000 orphans tailored to the wish lists of eager parents—hiding the fact that many weren’t orphans at all, but stolen sons and daughters of poor families, desperate single mothers, and women told in maternity wards that their babies had died.

The publication of Lisa Wingate’s novel Before We Were Yours brought new awareness of Tann’s lucrative career in child trafficking. Adoptees who knew little about their pasts gained insight into the startling facts behind their family histories. Encouraged by their contact with Wingate and award-winning journalist Judy Christie, who documented the stories of fifteen adoptees in this book, many determined Tann survivors set out to trace their roots and find their birth families.

Before and After includes moving and sometimes shocking accounts of the ways in which adoptees were separated from their first families. Often raised as only children, many have joyfully reunited with siblings in the final decades of their lives. In Before and After, Wingate and Christie tell of first meetings that are all the sweeter and more intense for time missed and of families from very different social backgrounds reaching out to embrace better-late-than-never brothers, sisters, and cousins. In a poignant culmination of art meeting life, long-silent victims of the tragically corrupt system return to Memphis with Wingate and Christie to reclaim their stories at a Tennessee Children’s Home Society reunion . . . with extraordinary results.

You are going to love Before and After especially if you are a fan of history. I HIGHLY recommend reading Before We Were Yours which is out now.

Due out October 22.

I loved Before We Were Yours. I live about 30 minutes from Memphis on the other side of the Mississippi. I toured Elmwood Cemetery about a month before that book came out and the marker they have there had caught my eye. When I read the book was about that, I immediately went out to buy it. I had the pleasure of meeting Lisa at Elmwood and it was a fascinating talk. This book answers a lot of questions I had and I enjoyed reading the stories that Lisa and Judy gathered. I can't wait to meeting them in Memphis again when discussing this book.

This book deals with adoptions of many children who were taken from their parents without their consent, stolen from their homes or hospitals. Many were from unwed mothers who had no means to care for them. It's a very emotionally charged true story of a woman who made herself wealthy from the unorthodox ways in which she adopted out these children. I was on the edge of my seat hoping for good outcomes for these children, possibly being reunited with their birth families at some point. To realize that this was happening right here in the U.S. was an outrage to me!

Kudos to Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate on the writing of this book. I read the 5 star book Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate earlier and was so happy to find out that Before and After had been written. Many thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read an arc of this book which is to published on 10/22/2019. I would suggest reading Before We Were Yours first, although this is a stand alone book. I gave this book a big 5 stars for all of the research done and the wonderful way it was all compiled to tell their real life stories.

Wow - what else is there to say about this book? I originally read Before We Were Yours and was incredibly moved to find out that it was based on true events. Now having read this follow-up, it just gutted me. To know that there are still people out there who are struggling because of this historical malpractice, its devastating. So incredibly grateful that Judy and Lisa took the time to write this book and shine a light again, further on these poor people.

The nonfiction follow up to Lisa Wingate's wildly popular "Before We Were Yours" .
Lisa's book started the ball rolling in reuniting a lot of people with their families and it's still continuing today.
The truth comes out as people that were adopted from The Tennessee Children's Home Society from the 1920's to 1950's tell their stories. So many of the children placed there were stolen when desperate mother's thought they were just placing their children there until they got back on their feet. Once the children were in the TCHS they were never returned to their parents. Georgia Tann ran the TCHS like a business, someone wanted a child, she made sure there was a child there with their specifications and believe me the adopting family paid dearly for them too, many times over the state adoption fee.
Reading the stories in their own words, the people that were adopted tell their stories.
Many remember their birth parents and being torn from siblings to never see them again.
There are stories of people after decades of being apart how they came to be reunited with birth parents and siblings. Many though are still searching for their original families and it has affected their whole lives. It's truly heartbreaking what Georgia Tann has done to families, all in the name of greed!
Expected publication: October 22nd 2019 by Ballantine Books.
I was given a complimentary copy. Thank you.
All opinions expressed are my own.

This is an account of the children that passed through the Tennessee Children's Home Society, that was run by Georgia Tann. Georgia Tann had many people in office that were more than happy to turn a bling eye to her adoption agency. She had a network of doctors, social workers, boarding house owners and even a governor.
Through this she was able to adopt out or sell children out of the TCHS. These children were either legitimately obtained or kidnapped. Their names were changed and parents names were changed.
Due to the chaos of all the paperwork, when the adoption records were finally opened, factual information was hard to come by.
The children too sick to adopt out were buried in the Homes grounds after death.
This book tells of the struggles some children had growing. The difficulty in knowing who their family were and even a sense of belonging in their adopted family.
These are stories told in their own words.

I have been looking forward to this book since I read Lisa Wingate’s Before We Were Yours in 2017. Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate have co-authored another heart wrenching book about the children whose lives were affected by Georgia Tann and the home she operated known as the Tennessee Children’s Home Society.
It brings to light the manner in which the children were processed. These are their stories in their own words.

An absolutely wonderful follow-up to Before We Were Yours by Ms Wingate. It shows how fiction can affect so many lives in such a poignant way. Kudos to the authors for bringing about this reunion of survivors.

Loved this beautifully written book. If you have read and loved Before We Were Yours, you must follow it up with Before and After. This novel is so well written and will give you all the feels. Highly recommend!

Thank you to net galley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

“Before and After” is a follow-up book to Lisa Wingate’s “Before We Were Yours”. It continues to tell the story of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society and the infamous Georgia Tann, only the stories told in this book aren’t fiction but interviews conducted and put together to show the agony and horror of what really happened when children were stolen to be sold for adoption. With amazing, heartbreaking details and descriptions, the siblings who find each other and share bittersweet reunions share their stories through tears and honesty. Heartbreaking but full of inspiring hope, this account of the truth will stay with readers’ hearts long after they’ve finished the book.

A wonderful nonfiction companion to the novel Before We Were Yours. The stories of real adoptees from the Tennessee Children’s Home Society are touching and unforgettable.