Before We Were Yours, by Lisa Windgate

 

Characters
Foss Family and others in 1940s	Present Day
Queenie and Briny Foss Rill > May Weathers Camillia > Iris Lark > Bonnie Gabion > Robby Fern > Beth   Judy – twin baby born prematurely   Arcadia - houseboat   Zede – helped family Silas   Tennessee Children’s Home Society Georgia Tann – real person Mrs. Murphy Mr. Riggs - abusive Miss Dodd – tried to help but lost job   Sherry and Stevie – two other children picked up with Foss children   Arney (Arnelle) – helped escape   Darren and Victoria Sevier – adoptive parents Zuma – housekeeper How - husband Hootsie - daughter	Stafford Family: Senator Wells Stafford Honeybee – mother Avery Missy and Allison   Grandma Judy   Leslie - Press Secretary   Elliot – Avery’s fiancé   Trent Turner Grandfather left letter for Grandma Judy       From 1940s – Hootsie and family – looking after Judy’s cottage in Edisto May Weathers Grandma Judy

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from paperback edition.

1.       What happened to Camillia?

2.       Why were the staff at the Tennessee Children’s Home Society, Mrs. Murphy and Mr. Riggs for example, so mean and uncaring toward the children?

3.       Who was Shad Arthur Foss, the baby boy whose information was in the envelope Trent had for Grandma Judy?

4.       Why do you think Trent went against his grandfather’s wishes and gave the envelope to Avery?

5.       Were you surprised that the Sevier’s took May and Beth back after they ran away? 

 

6.       How do you think they were as a family after May and Beth returned?  May told Avery, “You do not have to be born into a family to be loved by one” (page 314).  

7.       May told Avery that she had intended to wait and be sure the Sevier’s would keep Beth and then run away with Silas, but Hootsie saw them coming and alerted everyone.  Do you think Zuma and her family changed their attitude toward May and Beth?

8.       Avery reflected that, given her upbringing, she tended to “assume that I’ll get what I want” (page 230).  Would she or her family have gotten a baby from the home that matched their expectations?  Would they have questioned the procedure?

9.       How was Georgia Tann able to get away with stealing and killing babies and children for so long?

10.   Did the substory of the Avery’s dilemma about marrying Elliot and falling in love with Trent add to your enjoyment of the novel?

11.   Another substory was the issue of providing dignified care for frail senior citizens.  How do you think readers of different ages will read the sections about senior care? 

12.   Arney (Arnell) had a small, but important part in May’s story.  Arney told May that she, May, saved her.  May thought they had saved each other.  Then May told Avery, “People don’t come into our lives by accident” (page 317).   Who were the key players in this story?   Would the story have been the same without one or more of them?

13.   The director of May’s home told Avery, “One of the things our residents sometimes have difficulty accepting is that many of their belongings haven’t come with them” (page 42).  If you had to move into a center, what would you take with you?

14.   What would the children’s lives have been like if the story had never happened and they grew up on the Arcadia with their parents?   With the exception of Camillia’s death, is it possible they had a better life because they were taken and adopted?

15.   Why do you think the sisters decided not to make their story public?  

16.   This is a different type of historical fiction – the only real person was Georgia Tann – with the story built around a situation and not real people.   Do you like this type of story?