THE BLOCKBUSTER HIT--Over two million copies sold! A New York Times USA Today Wall Street Journal and Publishers Weekly Bestseller Poignant engrossing. --People - Lisa Wingate takes an almost unthinkable chapter in our nation s history and weaves a tale of enduring power. --Paula McLain Memphis 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night Rill is left in charge--until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children s Home Society orphanage the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents--but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility s cruel director Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty. Aiken South Carolina present day. Born into wealth and privilege Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor a handsome fiancé and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family s long-hidden history on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption. Based on one of America s most notorious real-life scandals--in which Georgia Tann director of a Memphis-based adoption organization kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country--Lisa Wingate s riveting wrenching and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how even though the paths we take can lead to many places the heart never forgets where we belong. Publishers Weekly s #3 Longest-Running Bestseller of 2017 - Winner of the Southern Book Prize - If All Arkansas Read the Same Book Selection