Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate Book Review

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Sometimes a book reaches into real history and hits closer to home than you ever expected. Lisa Wingate’s Before We Were Yours did exactly that for me.

I just finished Before We Were Yours, and wow. Although the story is fiction, it’s inspired by the very real Georgia Tann adoption scandal, which occurred between the 1920s and her death in 1950, right here in my hometown of Memphis. Despite growing up in Memphis, I didn’t learn about the scandal until I was an adult. Reading this novel, a fictionalized account of those heartbreaking events, felt like uncovering a hidden part of my hometown’s history. It’s one thing to read about tragedy from afar; it’s another to realize it happened in the very place you grew up.

Wingate tells the story using a dual timeline, moving seamlessly between the late 1930s during Georgia Tann’s reign and the present day. The past unfolds through the eyes of Rill, the eldest of five siblings who are taken from their family and sold through the Tennessee Children’s Home Society. Her voice is raw, emotional, and so vivid that I felt every moment alongside her. Present-day chapters follow Avery as she unravels her grandmother’s mysterious past and its connection to Rill’s story.

The transitions between past and present are done so well that I never felt confused or pulled out of the story. Instead, each timeline deepened the other, building toward an ending I absolutely had to reach. The closer I got, the harder it was to put the book down. I needed to know how Rill’s and Avery’s stories would finally meet.

Even knowing this is fiction, it made me think deeply about what so many real children endured during Georgia Tann’s reign in Memphis. Wingate’s writing is powerful—she made me feel everything these children went through. I cried, I got angry, I smiled at the tender moments, and I sat with the heaviness of the truth behind the story.

This was my first book by Lisa Wingate, and I was genuinely impressed. Her storytelling felt incredibly real, immersive, and deeply respectful of the history she drew from. It’s emotional, beautifully written, and absolutely unforgettable.

This is a solid 5-star read for me. If you enjoy historical fiction rooted in real events—or if you’re drawn to stories that uncover hidden pieces of history—this one will stay with you long after you turn the last page.

I also wrote a full blog post about the real events behind the novel—the Tennessee Children’s Home Society, the children who were taken, and why this story matters so deeply to me. If you’ve read the book (or plan to), or if you love learning the real history behind fiction, you might enjoy that deeper dive as well.

Read my blog about the real story of Georgia Tann: The Real Story Behind “Before We Were Yours”: Georgia Tann, Memphis, and a History I Never Knew

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