Before and After

Talk about heartache. 

Lisa Wingate wrote a book called Before We Were Yours based on real life stories of children who survived the Tennessee Children's Home Society and a woman called Georgia Tann who stole and sold children back in the 30's, 40's, and 50's as orphans. When the stories of these children came to light, though after Tann died, it caused many adoption policies and legalities to change in the United States. But the heartache happened and all of the survivors will never get those years with their biological parents and siblings back. But back in the 90's the adoption records were unsealed and many of these adoptees were able to find their own records and their biological families--if not their parents, then cousins, full and half siblings. 

Lisa was bombarded by adoptees after Before We Were Yours came out and her book tours were flooded by survivors as well. They shared so many stories of hard or happy lives, abandonment issues, and the potential of finding or not finding their biological families.  She was offered the idea of doing a reunion of these children--now grandparents. So a reunion was initiated and many people went and shared their stories back in 2017. Their stories permeated the area and is now being shared all over by these books. 

This was a great, but sad read. I, obviously, had no idea that Georgia Tann even existed, let alone what she did to these kids and families. Getting parents, often single mothers who "made a mistake" and would be shunned from their communities and families, to sign away their babies or poor families from the rural south doing the same because they couldn't afford to take care of them. There were even stories of, because of corrupt hospital workers and politicians, babies being stolen from their families while their mothers were still recuperating in the hospital after just having given birth. My heart ached for all the people. Tann kidnapped (in one way or another) these children and sold them as if their were hats or boots and she became a very, very wealthy woman. It's disgusting. This is two such ads where she would sell the "pretty" children: 

The worst part for me though--because many of the children were able to be placed in good, happy homes--was that at the end of the book  when at the reunion they went to the memorial that was erected for the 19 known deaths of babies who were under Tann's care at the Tennessee Children's Home Society. But the horrendous moment for me was when it was reveled that there were actually more than 500 children/babies who died under that roof if the child wasn't "pretty" or already sick. One of the people who's story we were given very easily could have been one of those babies who died. It breaks my heart. 

The compilation of all of these stories was very well put together. This is one that I think many should read and all should be aware of so then things like this doesn't happen again. Hopefully things have changed, though kidnappings and child slaves have gone more underground, but it all needs to stop.  

I hope that these once children are able to find peace and the answer they are looking for. Because of Ancestry and other DNA places, many of these survivors have been able to find biological families, but there are still so many questions that have gone unanswered and as time passes, may never be fully answered. 

I am very interested in hearing the story Before We Were Yours for the sheer fact that it changed so many lives. 

 This marker reads: 

"The Tennessee Children's Home Society
An Infamous History. A Tragic Legacy.
September 17, 1923 -- December 10, 1949

"In Memory of the 19 children who finally 
Rest here unmarked if not unknown, 
And of all the hundreds who died under
The cold hard hand of the Tennessee 
Children's Home Society. Their final resting 
Place unknown. Their final peace a blessing. 

"The hard lesson of their fate changed
Adoption procedure and law nationwide."

May you rest in peace. 

1984

 I've heard more and more people mention this book and figured while I was trying to be productive, I could listen to it. 

Winston is living in what was once England in approximately the year 1984, but then again there is no real way to tell which year precisely. Oceania (in the past known as North and South America, the southern half of Africa, southern tip of India, and Australia with the surrounding islands) is ruled by Big Brother. The government that rules everything with a hard fist. He sees everything, hears everything, and is working on even knowing your thoughts. Oceania (much like Euroasia and Eastasia, the only other countries and governments in the world) is productive in resources but it's population is destitute, there aren't enough of anything to go around. War is constant. History is what the government says it was. Winston is one of those people who help change things in all media so then the things that Big Brother doesn't want you to see, remember, or think, you won't. No amount of research into people, places, events, or things exist unless Big Brother says it's okay. And any thought of rebellion against Big Brother can lead you to "thoughtcrimes" where you will be tortured while interrogated and then confessing to anything and every thing. You don't want to get caught in your rebelliousness or you will be interrogated and will eventually confess and then normally die. 

This was a very deep story. One I'm okay with only reading once. It was well written and got the horrible world where Winston lived. It was very well thought out and soooo depressing. It is not a light read in any sense of the word. Torture and heavy mental business was a lot. 

It was eye opening to how a potential could happen. While it might not be as bad, the knowledge that it was so well thought out and could at one point be done or has been done is rather scary. The idea that Big Brother is watching and listening to everything is rather real with so many computers, phones, and other gadgets with cameras, GPS, and mics, let alone the social media getting out thoughts down. Big Brother is here. Government officials not having our best interests at heart and only want power for power's sake is something I know many people worry about. And I know many who feel they can't believe news media in general let alone history books given to kids today. I even remember thinking back in high school how we never got to the present in history classes. We spent so much time studying the Romans and Greeks, the Revolutionary Wars (USA and others), the WW's, and they we would pretty much stop. We never got really into the Cold War and most definitely anything after. I understand the feeling of missing out on history. It raises the question of how much Big Brother is here already. 

It also reminded me very much of We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. A very similar book though that one was a little harder to read in that the narrator is an unreliable one. Though a book still interesting to compare the two books.  

I think it is a good idea for everyone to read though or listen too. Not for the story itself (though it was well written and informative) but for the thoughts about it. 

Heartless

 

The tale of the Queen of Hearts. 

Catherine is the daughter of nobility, but she'd prefer to make cakes. She doesn't care for the parties and courtly appointments, she prefers to get her hands, dress, and the backs of her ears covered in flour. But that is not what her mother wants, not what the King wants. Suddenly she is nearly engaged to the King of Hearts who loves her creations and finds her just as delicious. As she tries to escape the proposal, the Jabberwaky attacks and she is saved during a corset affiliated fainting spell by the new court Joker. Now with her eyes locked on lemon colored Joker eyes, she even less interest in the King and being his Queen of Hearts, because hers heart is already taken. 

It was a charming story, read well by Rebecca Soler who did all the voices superbly! One with many loved characters from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventure in Wonderland. The Hatter before he's mad, the March Hare, the White Rabbit, flamingos and hedgehogs for crochet, and all the other outrageous characters that is part of the land of Hearts. The world is very comically odd as the way Wonderland is supposed to be. It is fabulously portrayed and written, just as Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles did with Cinder(ella) and the rest. 

It is also a love story between the Joker and Catherine. He has a mission and she has dreams. They both have tricks and are bound to lose their hearts, but to each other? They are fun characters with interesting adventures. 

(Spoiler!!) Sadly, though, we know the story of the Queen of Hearts from Alice's Adventure in Wonderland. The Queen is not a happy person. She is heartless and, oh, so willing to take off a person's head. This story is not a happy one. It is a fragility with a comic as it's star. You hope and you read on because "Maybe it's different" "Maybe there is a change" "Maybe she's not that Queen" "Maybe..." But her's is not a happy tale. And this, I think will be the only time I read it. 

I can't give it five stars because it didn't end how I wanted it too!! Written well, yes! Mastered beautifully, yes! But I wanted it different. And what happens to Jest was so quick it almost didn't seem real. Well done, but I didn't want to be sad with this book. 

Girl in the Blue Coat

World War II stories are hard to read at times. This one is no exception.

Amsterdam, 1943. Hanneke (the audiobook had it sound like Hanika) works in her own little way to resist the Nazi occupation by being a black-marketeer in finding things that people need. But suddenly one of the ladies she normally finds things for has a missing girl that she wants found. Only this girl isn't supposed to be there. She is a Jew and has somehow vanished. She can't go to the guard, obviously, or other authorities, so how is she going to find this girl in a blue coat?

This was a very well done piece. It was written well and kept me very engaged the whole time. While Hanneke and the rest of the characters may be fictitious, the actions and events were very historically sound. The black market, the college resistance fighters, the theater and nursery across the street that helped save hundreds of people who would have died... These are all amazing things that Monica Hesse has portrayed beautifully, realistically, and powerfully. I very much enjoyed this and am even more interested in the other stories Monica Hesse has written.

I enjoyed the characters and how they felt lifelike. There situations and reactions to their circumstances were real and made me worry for them more than I worry for many of the other characters I read about.

I think Monica Hesse was a very brave woman to end the story the way she did. This is war and wars often down have happy endings for everyone involved. The ending was fulfilling and the focus of the story was different than most would suspect, which is also a very brave move for the author to do walking the fine line between what the plot needs and what the audience wants or expects. And I think she pulled it off well.

Good on you Monica Hesse. It was a very good book and one that I probably wouldn't mind reading or listening to again.