Lisa Wingate

This was a heartbreaking book, even though some things are resolved in the end.

The story is read by two narrators who each voice a character telling the tale of the real-life Tennessee Children's Home Society, an adoption agency in Memphis, which notoriously used kidnapping and lies to steal poor children from their parents and essentially sell them to wealthy parents from the 1920's to 1950.

The earlier timeline relates the story of fictional twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings who live aboard their family’s Mississippi River shanty boat. In 1939, their father must rush their mother to the hospital, and Rill is left in charge. The next morning, Memphis police (the director of the orphanage paid police to round up children for her) arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are told they will soon be returned to their parents, but it doesn't take long for the two older children, Rill and ten-year-old Camellia, to realize the awful truth -- there is no getting out of what is essentially a prison. The children are slowly broken apart and given up for adoption to wealthy families in other parts of the country.

The later story tells the tale of Avery Stafford, a successful prosecutor who has recently returned to Aiken, SC to help out her ill father and his Senate campaign. While visiting a nursing home with her father, she stumbles upon a mystery involving a woman who claims to know her grandmother. Avery's story isn't as interesting and her part of the narration drags in places. But it serves to bring the story of the Foss children up to the present day, while also telling the dark history of the Tennessee Children's Home Society.

The narrator who voiced Rill was fantastic -- I felt the story was greatly improved by her narration. Avery's narrator wasn't as good, but she told Avery's story well. I sometimes wished I could have read those parts, since I read faster to myself than she could narrate, and I wanted to get back to Rill's story as fast as I could.

All in all, a good book and I give it 4 stars in LibraryThing, though I gave it 5 stars on Audible.… (altro)

What a powerful, eye opening read. I knew about "The Trail of Tears", but not of the land, Oklahoma!

This is a dual time read, and I loved how the author seamlessly wove this story together.

Be sure to read the author's notes at the end!

This read opens your eyes to the greed that goes through the ages, and those that have never have enough, and don't care about whom they hurt getting it. Unfortunately, in the early 1900's it was children, and we though the eyes of the author meet this children and get to know some of them.

There are surprises, and then wow surprises, and most you won't see coming!

I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Ballantine Books, and was not required to give a positive review.… (altro)

Wow is all I can say about this book this has by far been the best book I have read. I have read plenty of books but this one was the best I don’t even have words for this book although the people in the book or fictional the stories are real and they’re based on true story. It is unbelievable that Georgia tan was able to get away with what she did for so many years all those children that died and were never reunited with their parents all those children’s given two homes that missed treated them all those children that were molestedAnd beat it’s so sad so many parts of this book brought so many tears to my eyes makes me look at my own children and just want to hang onto them so tight and never let them go because there are some weirdPeople in this world I don’t want to give away any more spoilers because I’m sure there’s a Tonna people that have not read this book yet but for those of you who read it you know what I’m talking about.… (altro)