Before We Were Yours, a work of historical fiction, is based on the real-life nefarious activities of Georgia Tann and the Tennessee Children’s Home Society in Memphis starting in the 1930s and lasting for over 20 years. Tann operated a black market adoption trafficking ring. Tann had poor children kidnapped to be adopted out to unsuspecting clientele and, unfortunately local authorities knew about Georgia Tann and even colluded in the kidnappings.
The fictional story of the five Foss children parallels the real life experiences of hundreds of victims of Georgia Tann's adoption agency. The story begins when the children are stolen from their family's riverboat one night in the 1930’s. Their parents have to go to the hospital due to complications with their mother's pregnancy and childbirth. Left alone, the children are taken by corrupt police officers working for Tann and eventually adopted off one by one.
Emotional, engrossing, even shocking at times, this is a book that you will long remember after reading it especially so because the story is based on real events.
An epic historical fiction of Robert Louis Stevenson’s and his artistic, strongly independent American wife Fanny. Their travels to find a place that provided the best climate for RLS’s physical condition from TB, their potent love story, their struggles to provide a secure living and their professional challenges are covered in a captivating book.
From her life as a Kikuyu child in Africa, to a Nobel Peace Prize winner, Dr. Matthai tells in a very personal and easy conversational account of her growth into a tenacious activist in ecology and human rights. Raised in rural Kenya, she never lost her deep connection with the land . As she saw the destruction of her environment around her, she started the Greenbelt Movement to plant trees to reclaim the land as a campaign for and with rural women. An amazing, inspirational fighter for the environment and human rights, it demonstrates how one person can really make a difference in the world.
A. J. Fikry, the irascible owner of Island Books, has recently endured some tough years: his wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and his prized possession--a rare edition of Poe poems--has been stolen. Over time, he has given up on people, and even the books in his store, instead of offering solace, are yet another reminder of a world that is changing too rapidly—until a most unexpected occurrence gives him the chance to make his life over and see things anew. 
