Nov 2021 Book Program

About the Event

Women Alone Together and the Agnes Scott College Alumnae Association jointly present author Lisa Wingate in a virtual program about a woman's role in a sordid criminal chapter in 20th century Southern history, the inspiration for a woman's bestselling 21st century novel, and its amazing impact still today on lives of survivors who tell their own stories in the novel's nonfiction sequel.

The story of Lisa Wingate’s journey to and with this book and its aftermath is described here.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w1iw63g1vq7mqxq/WAT%20Nov%20only.docx?dl=0

About the Author

Lisa Wingate is a former journalist, an inspirational speaker, and the bestselling author of more than thirty books. Her blockbuster Before We Were Yours was on the NYT best seller list for over one year. Her work has won or been nominated for many awards, including the Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize, the Oklahoma Book Award, the Utah Library Award, the Carol Award, the Christy Award, and the RT Reviewers’ Choice Award. Lisa believes stories can change the world.

From goodreads.com.

About the Book

Before We Were Yours

THE BLOCKBUSTER HIT—A #1 New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly Bestseller

Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. 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 that 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—Lisa 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.

From Lisa Wingate’s website