Penguin Random House, Belletristik, Before We Were Yours (Englisch, Lisa Wingate, 2022)

THE BLOCKBUSTER HIT&mdash,Over two million copies sold! A New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly Bestseller &ldquo,Poignant, engrossing.&rdquo,&mdash,People &bull, &ldquo,Lisa Wingate takes an almost unthinkable chapter in our nation&rsquo,s history and weaves a tale of enduring power.&rdquo,&mdash,Paula McLain Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family&rsquo,s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge&mdash,until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children&rsquo,s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents&mdash,but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility&rsquo,s cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty. Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome fiancé,, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis, ,a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family&rsquo,s long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption. Based on one of America&rsquo,s most notorious real-life scandals&mdash,in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country&mdash,Lisa Wingate&rsquo,s riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong. Publishers Weekly&rsquo,s #3 Longest-Running Bestseller of 2017 &bull, Winner of the Southern Book Prize &bull, If All Arkansas Read the Same Book Selection This edition includes a new essay by the author about shantyboat life.