Before and After by Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate

It has been said before, and also in this book, that everybody has a story. In Before and After by Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate, the authors share the real-life stories of orphans who survived the Tennessee Children's Home Society.

I was immediately drawn in to Before and After as I started the book. I struggled to put this book down just as I did Lisa Wingate's book, Before We Were Yours. Before We Were Yours is a fictionalized account of orphans similar to the real-life stories in this book. I found these stories to be fascinating. It is hard to believe that anyone could be as unkind and unfeeling as Georgia Tann who ran a black market child adoption business in Memphis through the Tennessee Children's Home Society from the 1920s until 1950. Over 5,000 orphans were cleared for adoption through her agency so literally thousands of orphans and families were affected by this corrupt agency.

If you haven't read Before We Were Yours, I would encourage you to read that book first before starting Before and After. I liked that Before and After followed a timeline as this book and the stories began through Wingate's book tour. I also liked that they included the authors thoughts occasionally throughout the book, along with the many stories that were told. I was amazed at the children, and now older adults, who were all affected in different ways through this agency. Some definitely had better lives than they likely would have had, while others faced new and different challenges. Before and After is a testament to human resiliency in many cases and so inspiring. I highly recommend it.

I received a copy of this book courtesy of the author and the publisher All opinions are my own.