Before We Were Yours

by Lisa Wingate
Jennifer's copy, hardcover 298 pages
genre: Christian historical fiction

I was on the Hennepin County waiting list for over two months! I finally canceled my request after Jenn lent me her copy. I was also on the waiting lists in Dakota and Scott Counties . . . popular book!

I was super confused by the prologue, but the book club told me to just wait until the end. Good advice!

I made lots of notes that I'll put at the end of this blog entry. If you don't want spoilers, stop at the line!

Page 8 - When Avery is referring to her Grandma Judy's dementia and need for nursing home care. "We're just like other families. Every available avenue is paved with guilt, lined with pain, and pockmarked with shame. We're embarrassed for Grandma Judy. We're afraid for her. We're heartsick about where this cruel descent into dementia might end." Yep. Caregiving for the elderly is not for the faint of heart.

Page 95 - Avery looking through her grandmother's day books - "I leaf through more pages, wondering, remembering, thinking about this watershed year. Life can turn on a dime. The appointment book reinforces my new awareness of this. We plan our days, but we don't control them."

Page 185 - Miss Tann is an evil liar. That is all. I'm horrified by the existence of people like this. (Though fictional, she's based on a real human being who truly did evil things to children and families.)

Page 260 - Avery comments on her childhood, when decency was more common. "'We live in an entertainment-driven world,' Trent says soberly. 'Everything's fair game.'" And it only gets worse . . .

Page 307 - I tagged this page, but I'm not sure why. I may have cried for Rill and the overwhelming sadness of her reality. I almost want to scan, save, and re-read pages 307-311. The heart of this story, imo.

Page 314 - "If there was one thing I'd learned from watching Briny and Queenie, it was that love doesn't put food on the table. It doesn't keep a family safe." That's a hard lesson for a child to learn. Yet later on the page, the Seviers welcome them home. Love this!

Page 315 - "I think of my grandmother, of her empty house, of her room in the nursing home, of her inability to recognize me most days. Tears well up in my eyes. The music of old age is difficult to hear when it's playing for someone you love."

The book clubbers were right - this is an amazing book!

********************Spoilers***************************
Avery Stafford 30 y.o. lawyer / dad Senator Wells Stafford / fiance' Elliot

May Crandall (elderly woman in nursing home) mom Queenie (Polish, prayers, crucifix) and Briny (dad, river boat) is 12 y.o. Rill!
Camellia (10 y.o. / dark hair / feisty / molested, then killed at children's home)
Lark (6 y.o. / renamed Bonnie / adopted by Hollywood people)
Fern (4 y.o. / adopted by Seviers / wet the bed / timid)
Gabion (2 y.o. / adopted at party)

Trent Turner (realtor, died, papers) - Senior, Junior, III (love interest for Avery)
"Stevie" and "Shelley" - sibs in home who attached to May/Rill
page 298 - Hootsie!!!

Baby is one of Queenie's twin babies! Grandma Judy. But what happened to the other baby?