Avery Stafford is considered the protagonist of Lisa Wingate’s ‘ Before We Were Yours.’ Her disposition and perseverance make her the life of the novel – as well as the reason the Foss family secret is solved. Avery is one of the narrators with which Lisa Wingate opts to see and tell the captivating stories in ‘ Before We Were Yours.’ But, come on, you may say, police officers kidnapping children in 1939 in the U.S. and sending them to orphanages? Arriving at the exact same moment the parents aren’t there? Shortly after, a few strange people including a police officer comes to the boat and lie that they’ve come to take Rill and her siblings to meet with their parents, but instead whisked them away to Memphis where they are given new names and put up for sale to those who could afford them. Elliot is a fiancé to Avery. Just like Avery, he is an established lawyer himself and has been with Avery since childhood- starting out as friends and then morphing into a romantic relationship. Although the couple loves each other, there isn’t really much passion attached to it aside from each other’s moms trying to control things and make it work by all means. He later breaks up with Avery – who moves into another relationship with Trent.

Is the wife to Wells Stafford and mother to Avery, Missy, and Allison. She is probably the person Missy takes after as she is also viewed as a perfectionist. She is loved by Wells resulting in her pet name Honeybee. Readers don’t get to find out what her real name is – as she gets called that by everyone, including her children.It was called Tennessee Children’s Home Society (TCHS), and it did exactly what you just read: it kidnapped children from low-income families and gave them away to affluent couples.

She is the author of twenty novels, some of which are part of series, and almost all of which have been shortlisted for some award. Among them: the Utah Library Award, the Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize, the LORIES Best Fiction Award, the Oklahoma Book Award, the Carol Award, etc. Triggers. That's what the psychologist call them on TV shows. Triggers... as if the strike ignites the gunpowder and sends a projectile spinning down a rifle barrel. It's an appropriate metaphor.Wells is the father of Avery Stafford and the son of Judy Stafford. Wells develops a terminal illness and needs to step down from the US Senate for his daughter to be in his stead. He is married to Honeybee Stafford and has other daughters aside from Avery. Avery Stafford is a former Federal Prosecutor, who left her own life behind (which includes her fiancé) to return home to care for her ailing father, the Senator. She has been summoned to attend political functions and events with him and be the “dutiful daughter.” In the midst of attending these events, she decides to visit with her Grandmother Judy, who is suffering from Dementia. During this visit, her Grandmother divulges something to Avery that she has kept hidden all of her life. This secret leads Avery to uncover facts about her Grandmother and helps Avery down her own path to self-discovery. Then you have Memphis in 1939. Rill is the oldest child of a couple that live in a river boat. One night her parents have to leave all five children home alone to rush their mother to the hospital. While they are gone the police show up and take the children.