Book Reading and Signing

Before We Were Yours chosen for If All Arkansas Read the Same Book Author will hold a Searcy reading and book signing

LITTLE ROCK—Before We Were Yours, a novel by Lisa Wingate is the selection for the 2018 statewide reading program, If All Arkansas Read the Same Book. The best-selling novel is based on the true story of a Memphis orphanage responsible for the kidnapping and selling of thousands of children in illegal adoptions. Arkansans are encouraged to read and discuss the book in book clubs and libraries.

The author will visit the Searcy Public Library on Wednesday, June 6 at Noon for a reading and book signing.

ABOUT BEFORE WE WERE YOURS

The following is taken from the Penguin/Random House website:

“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— Before We Were Yours is a riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale, reminding us how even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lisa Wingate is a former journalist, inspirational speaker, and best-selling author of more than twenty novels. 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 Booklovers Reviewer’s Choice Award. The group Americans for More Civility, a kindness watchdog organization, selected Lisa along with six others as recipients of the National Civics Award, which celebrates public figures who work to promote greater kindness and civility in American life. Booklist summed up her work by saying, “Lisa Wingate is, quite simply, a master storyteller.”

If All Arkansas Read the Same Book is presented by the Arkansas Center for the Book at the Arkansas State Library and all programs are offered free-of-charge to the public. The project is funded in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Copies of Before We Were Yours are available at all public libraries throughout the state.

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