Port O’ Connor’s “Hooked On Books” Book Club held its monthly meeting on April 12, 2022 at 2:00 PM in the Multipurpose Room of the Port O’ Connor Library. Hostesses were: Jeanette Henke, Sandra Pustka, and Ursula Price. The Club’s “Book of the Month”, Before We Were Yours, by Lisa Wingate, was interesting and suspenseful, and all the ladies agreed it was a wonderful historical fiction, weaving fictional characters with real-life occurrences of Depression Era Tennessee, in which an almost unthinkable chapter in our nation’s history took place for twenty five years!!
The book describes the fate of poor children who were abducted by “authorities” and/or unknowingly signed over by their indigent parents, to the “Tennessee Children’s Home Society” as “orphans”, and placed in group homes where they were starved, abused, and neglected, until they were hopefully, and mercifully, sold to wealthy people throughout the Country who were desperately seeking a child!!
The real-life Proprietress of the “Tennessee Children’s Home Society”, was the notorious, Georgia Tann, whom the authorities allowed, for one reason or another, to carry on her child trafficking business for a staggering 25 years, from 1925 to1950!!
To showcase the children to their wealthy, prospective parents, Ms. Tann arranged elegant “Tea Parties”, for which the “Orphans” were cleaned up, dressed nicely, and transported to fancy homes by “Tennessee Children’s Home Society” workers, for inspection. If the parents found “a match”, adoptions were hastily arranged, at huge profits for Ms. Tann.
In keeping with the “Tea Party” theme, the Hostesses held a “Tea Party”, and attendees were served delicious finger foods, sweets, and beverages that were of that period. Following the “Tea party”, the Ladies held a lively discussion of the book, which followed the fictional “Foss family”, whose seven children fell victim to Ms. Tann’s evil ways. Six of the Foss children survived the trials and tribulations of their abduction, and were adopted out to different families. One perished under the care of the “Tennessee Children’s Home Society”. Four of the Foss siblings were able to locate each other in adulthood and reconnect, enjoying each other’s company throughout their adult lives, but in secret, for fear of disgracing their respective families because of their sordid past. They were never able to reconnect with two of their siblings because the adoption records, in that era, were sealed by law, and unattainable, All the Ladies agreed that it was an excellent read- well written, and mysterious and suspenseful to the end!!
The Book Club’s next meeting will be held on May 10, 2022 at 2:00 PM, and our book is All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. If you would like to join “Hooked On Books”, please email your contact information to alanehaardt@yahoo.com. All are welcome!!
