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Before and After
- The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children's Home Society
- Narrated by: Emily Rankin
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, True Crime
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Publisher's Summary
The compelling, poignant true stories of victims of a notorious adoption scandal - some of whom learned the truth from Lisa Wingate’s best-selling 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 15 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. Christie and Wingate 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, many of the long-silent victims of the tragically corrupt system return to Memphis with the authors to reclaim their stories at a Tennessee Children’s Home Society reunion...with extraordinary results.
Advance praise for Before and After
“In Before and After, authors Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate tackle the true stories behind Wingate’s blockbuster Before We Were Yours, of the orphans who survived the Tennessee Children’s Home Society. With a journalist’s keen eye and a novelist’s elegant prose, Christie and Wingate weave together the stories that inspired Before We Were Yours with the lives that were changed as a result of reading the novel. Readers will be educated, enlightened, and enraptured by this important and flawlessly executed book.” (Pam Jenoff, author of The Orphan’s Tale and The Lost Girls of Paris)
What the critics say
“Lisa Wingate’s number one New York Times best-selling novel Before We Were Yours brought worldwide attention to a shocking scandal of lost and stolen children. What she couldn’t know was that her novel would also become the catalyst for survivors, now in old age, to share their stories. Before and After, while at times a very sad and shocking read, is ultimately a collection of astonishing real-life stories of strength, hope, and resilience in the face of the cruelest circumstances. If you read Before We Were Yours, you will devour Before and After.” (Amy Hill Hearth, New York Times best-selling author of Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years)
“Fans who couldn’t get enough of Before We Were Yours will devour this book in a single sitting. In Before and After, Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate gracefully chronicle the experiences of survivors forever affected by a corrupt Tennessee orphanage, leading many to a life-altering reunion in search of healing.... Not only a heart-wrenching and inspiring read but also a testament to the incredible power of storytelling.” (Kristina McMorris, author of Sold on a Monday and The Edge of Lost)
“Truly fascinating accounts of relatives lost and found, and of the reverberations through generations of countless families caused by a single person’s greed, these stories of strength, hope, and uncertainty will remain with me.” (Cea Sunrise Person, author of North of Normal: A Memoir of My Wilderness Childhood, My Unusual Family, and How I Survived Both)
More from the same
What listeners say about Before and After
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anonymous User
- 2020-01-24
This is a great listen.
I really enjoyed hearing the stories of the real children, now adults who were apart of the adoptions.
1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 2022-07-26
Not what I expected
There were some interesting tales from survivors when they finally got around to them but overall a little disappointing.
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- Amazon Customer
- 2021-08-17
Heartbreaking and uplifting.
It was so great to learn about more of the people effected by these criminal events. Some happy endings to hear was just what you needed after reading Before we were Yours. Amazing writing that keep you wanting to learn more.
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- Karen R Linner
- 2021-01-10
beautiful
To hear the real life stories of this tragedy makes one reflective and appreciative of our own families and family histories. A book that makes you think and reflect is a gift!
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- Amazon Customer
- 2020-07-17
Not for me
Not too many books I give up on, but I did on this one. While the concept was a good idea to hear the stories of the real life people who survived, it didn't seem to tell you enough of a story of each one so you got to know them. It read to me like stating the facts rather than making the stories and people come to life.
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- Radar8
- 2020-05-07
A History of Adoption Back in the Dark Days
A read on how children in the south for 30 years were adopted as a commodity not as human beings ......told by the children interviewed who were part of this process.
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- Stacie
- 2020-02-25
Badly written
I really enjoyed Before We Were Yours and was excited to listen this book, but I did not enjoy it. The authors spend way too much time talking about themselves and not about the stories they are writing about. The real stories they tell are very interesting and I enjoyed them but they still interrupt the story with too much of their own personal narrative. There is a lot of patting themselves on the back for telling other people's stories and organizing a get-together. I would not recommend this book.
23 people found this helpful
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- stacy
- 2019-11-02
So much potential- yet so hard to listen to..
If the author would have just told these people’s stories, this could have been a wonderful book. Instead, she had to write herself into the story and it falls flat. I don’t care about her e-mailing this person, or this person calling the author. The stories themselves are nice, but it’s ruined by all the fine details of communication with the author.
15 people found this helpful
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- Buster
- 2019-10-24
Words Can't Describe...
This is absolutely by far the most beautiful and touching collection of stories from the survivors of the Tennessee Children's Home Society. I was touched by how delicate and respectful the author was in re-telling the stories of those who lived through such a horrific and traumatic ordeal. I feel that this book and the stories of all those children have impacted my life. These are stories that I will never forget. The courage of those who shared their story is truly inspiring and I am truly grateful that they chose to share their story with us. Absolutely wonderful work! This will be something that I will pass on to friends and family. Absolutely breath taking! Wonderful job all the way around! Truly Inspiring!!
10 people found this helpful
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- Teresa
- 2019-11-25
This is wonderful!
This is the nonfiction follow-up to the novel, Before We Were Yours, by Lisa Wingate. I loved that book. But I might love Before and After even more. Why? Because these are the real, heart-wrenching stories behind the novel. And in so many cases, these people came to research their backgrounds AFTER they’d read Before We Were Yours (the impact one single novel has made on so many lives is awe-inspiring!). The stories told in this book are hard, yes. But more than hard, they are victorious. The writing here is gentle and loving, yet persistent in its truth telling. The narration is flawless, perfectly matched to the tone of the story. Five stars, and a new favorite book of mine.
7 people found this helpful
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- Merrilee K. Thomas
- 2019-11-19
Sequel To "Before We Were Yours"
it was heartwarming to listen to the real life stories of the adoptees of TCHC
5 people found this helpful
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- KP
- 2020-05-04
Not for everyone
The narrator was good, but I was not captivated by the story. I can see how done could relate to the subject matter but it was a little dull and repetitive for me.
3 people found this helpful
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- MJB
- 2019-11-15
Heartbreaking and Strong Souls
Could not put down! To know how each person is living today and dealing with the knowledge of what happened to them or their loved one is heartbreaking. I'm so proud of each one to have come through with love and desire to live to the fullest possible. Bless each of you.
3 people found this helpful
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- Betty
- 2019-11-11
Different
I loved Before We Were Yours but this book is hard for me to get into. With so many stories being told, I couldn’t get into the book. It felt too choppy.
3 people found this helpful
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- Susan D. Lynch
- 2020-01-10
Wow!
After reading Before We were Yours to read these accounts of real people who lived this was amazing, inspiring, heartbreaking and thought provoking. These were some brave people. Great book.
2 people found this helpful
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- LoRe Bolling
- 2019-11-27
Completes Before We Were Yours with nonfiction
True stories of the adoptees who started at the Tennessee Home for Children. Healing, comforting, and such very powerful stories. The heartfeltness is palpable.
2 people found this helpful