Tribune Staff Reports
The Adult Book Club will meet at 11 a.m. Oct. 11 at the Brownstown Public Library, 120 E. Spring St., to discuss “Before We Were Yours” by Lisa Wingate.
Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat in 1939 in the area near Memphis, Tennessee. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge — until strangers arrive in force.
Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured they will soon be returned to their parents, but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility’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’s long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption.
Based on one of America’s most notorious real-life scandals in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country, Wingate’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.
The club is designed to provide an informal, congenial atmosphere for patrons 18 and older to share their literary interpretations of book selections. Everyone should read the month’s selection before the meeting but may feel free to attend even if they haven’t finished the book as long as they don’t mind hearing how the book ends. Everyone is encouraged to participate in the discussion, but listeners are welcome.
Light refreshments are served by individuals from the group on a volunteer basis. Extra copies of the book selection are available one month in advance at the library circulation desk.
Karen Raymer leads the group.
Registration is requested and may be done at the circulation desk or by calling the library at 812-358-2853.