Before We Were Yours: A Novel (Unabridged)

More by Lisa Wingate

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  Before We Were Yours: A Novel (Unabridged)

  Lisa Wingate Two families, generations apart, are forever changed by a heartbreaking injustice in this poignant novel, inspired by a true story, for fans of Orphan Train and The Nightingale.
  
  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.

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  The Prayer Box: A Novel (Unabridged)

  Lisa Wingate A young woman, an old woman, and the story of a lifetime…
  
  When Iola Anne Poole, an old-timer on Hatteras Island, passes away in her bed at ninety-one, the struggling young mother in her rental cottage, Tandi Jo Reese, finds herself charged with the task of cleaning out the rambling Victorian house.
  
  Running from a messy, dangerous past, Tandi never expects to find more than a temporary hiding place within Iola's walls, but everything changes with the discovery of eighty-one carefully decorated prayer boxes, one for each year, dating from Iola's youth to her last days. Hidden in the boxes is the story of a lifetime, written on random bits of paper - the hopes and wishes, fears and thoughts of an unassuming but complex woman passing through the seasons of an extraordinary, unsung life, filled with journeys of faith, observations on love, and one final lesson that could change everything.

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  The Story Keeper (Unabridged)

  Lisa Wingate Successful New York editor Jen Gibbs is at the top of her game with her new position at Vida House Publishing - until a mysterious manuscript from an old slush pile appears on her desk. Turning the pages, Jen finds herself drawn into the life of Sarra, a mixed-race Melungeon girl trapped by dangerous men in turn-of-the-century Appalachia. A risky hunch may lead to The Story Keeper's hidden origins and its unknown author, but when the trail turns toward the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a place Jen thought she'd left behind forever, the price of a blockbuster book deal may be higher than she's willing to pay.

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  Firefly Island (Unabridged)

  Lisa Wingate Nationally best-selling author and American Christian Fiction Book of the Year Award winner Lisa Wingate pens inspirational contemporary romances brimming with emotion and charm. Mallory Hale is a congressional staffer whose whirlwind romance with Daniel Everson led to marriage and a new lifestyle on a ranch near Moses Lake. But her life takes a mysterious turn when she spots lights flickering at night on nearby Firefly Island, even though it's been abandoned for years.

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  Blue Moon Bay: Moses Lake, Book 2 (Unabridged)

  Lisa Wingate Award-winning, best-selling crossover author Lisa Wingate pens inspirational Southern fiction that tugs at the heartstrings. Blue Moon Bay takes Seattle architect Heather Hampton to quiet Moses Lake, Texas, where a promotion at her firm hinges on the sale of family farmland for a proposed industrial plant. Her plans hit a few snags thanks to her quirky family and a handsome banker opposing the land deal. It soon becomes clear that providence has other ideas for her future, and maybe this small town is the place where all her dreams could come true.

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  The Sea Keeper's Daughters (Unabridged)

  Lisa Wingate From modern-day Roanoke Island to the sweeping backdrop of North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains and Roosevelt's WPA folklore writers, past and present intertwine to create an unexpected destiny.
  
  Restaurant owner Whitney Monroe is desperate to save her business from a hostile takeover. The inheritance of a decaying Gilded Age hotel on North Carolina's Outer Banks may provide just the ray of hope she needs. But things at the Excelsior are more complicated than they seem. Whitney's estranged stepfather is entrenched on the third floor, and the downstairs tenants are determined to save the historic building. Searching through years of stored family heirlooms may be Whitney's only hope of quick cash, but will the discovery of an old necklace and a Depression-era love story change everything?

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  Larkspur Cove (Unabridged)

  Lisa Wingate When Andrea moves to Moses Lake, Texas, with her son, she hopes her job will provide purpose and solace from an ordeal that shattered her life and shook her faith. Mart, the new game warden, hopes to escape the constant reminders of a tragedy he can’t forgive himself for. Soon a girl’s plight offers them both a chance for redemption and draws them closer than they ever anticipated.

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  A Month of Summer (Unabridged)

  Lisa Wingate Lisa Wingate has been favorably compared to authors Nicholas Sparks and Richard Paul Evans.
  In A Month of Summer, Hanna Beth has been caring for her aging husband - who suffers from Alzheimer's - and her developmentally challenged adult son for years on her own. But when she suffers a stroke, estranged stepdaughter Rebecca must take the reins. As she cares for her father and the step-brother she's barely met, Rebecca slowly begins to heal both herself and her family.

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  Lone Star Cafe (Unabridged)

  Lisa Wingate Lisa Wingate, national best-selling author and inspirational speaker, delivers a novel that examines the paths we choose in life and the realization that we may be on the wrong one. One morning while running late to work, Laura Draper is ambushed by a future-determining call from her boyfriend that ends in an ultimatum. Suddenly, Laura finds herself at a crossroads and she is unsure of her next move.

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  Texas Cooking: Texas Hill Country Series, Book 1 (Unabridged)

  Lisa Wingate According to USA Today, best-selling author Lisa Wingate “dishes up fun and charm” with her touching romance novels. In Texas Cooking, Wingate tells the story of Colleen Collins, a big city reporter who thinks she’s seen and heard it all until she visits the tiny town of San Saline. Listeners from all walks of life will relish this tale of passion, new beginnings, and the comfortsof good food and good conversation.

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  Wildwood Creek (Unabridged)

  Lisa Wingate Allie Kirkland has never been one to take wild risks. But when she's offered a costuming assistant's job on a docudrama in the hills near Moses Lake, she jumps at the chance. She's always dreamed of following in her director-father's footsteps, and the reenactment of the legendary frontier settlement of Wildwood is a first step. The family expectations will have to wait. But in 1861, the real Wildwood held dangerous realities. Town founder Harland Delevan held helpless residents, including young Irish schoolteacher Bonnie Rose, in an iron grip. Mysterious disappearances led to myths and legends still retold in the folk songs of Chinquapin Peaks. Eventually, the entire site was found abandoned. When strange connections surface between Allie and the teacher who disappeared over a century ago, everyone in Wildwood, including Allie's handsome neighbor on the film set, Blake Fulton, seems to be hiding secrets, and Allie doesn't know who she can trust. If she can't find the answers in time, history may repeat itself...with the most unthinkable results.

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  Never Say Never (Unabridged)

  Lisa Wingate From best-selling author Lisa Wingate comes Never Say Never, an enthralling blend of small-town charm and wholesome romance.
  
  Kai Miller has never put down roots and doesn’t intend to change. Yet when a hurricane evacuation brings her to Daily, Texas, she begins to reexamine her tumbleweed ways. After meeting Kemp Eldridge, she can almost see herself settling down—until her dreams are dashed when she hears he’s promised to another. But locals have learned to never say never—especially when Aunt Donnetta is cooking up a scheme.

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  Talk of the Town (Unabridged)

  Lisa Wingate In this compelling tale by Lisa Wingate - award winning author of the national best-seller Lone Star Café - the associate producer of TV's hottest show fears Amber Amberson's tiny Texas hometown already knows its Amber who is an American Megastar finalist. But after several hilarious culture clashes, the Hollywood pro enlists the help of the quirky townsfolk when the sweet and naïve Amber goes missing.

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  Word Gets Around (Unabridged)

  Lisa Wingate Best-selling author Lisa Wingate serves up small-town values with humor and romance. Lauren hasn't returned to her hometown since her husband's death. But when her dad needs her help, she heads for their horse ranch in Daily, Texas. There she must prepare a "broke down" race horse for his role in a movie that will alter the fortunes of her dad, a Hollywood star, and a screenwriter.

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  Over the Moon at the Big Lizard Diner (Unabridged)

  Lisa Wingate National best-selling author Lisa Wingate has inspired countless readers with her homegrown tales from her Texas Hill Country series. Archeologist Lindsey Attwood is distraught that her ex-husband has taken their eight-year-old daughter to Mexico for the summer. To take her mind off her worries, she agrees to visit her twin sister Laura and best friend Collie to help find stolen fossilized dinosaur tracks. But Lindsey soon discovers more than she bargained for, including a friendly mutt and hunky cowboy/veterinarian Zack Truitt.

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  The Sea Glass Sisters: Carolina Chronicles (Unabridged)

  Lisa Wingate Elizabeth Gallagher has been balancing on the ragged edge for a while now. Then, a rough case on the boards of her 911-operator job collides with a family conflict at home, and Elizabeth finds herself finally coming apart at the seams. A four-state road trip - trapped in a car with her mother - is the last thing she needs.
  
  Their destination may be beautiful Hatteras Island, but the reason for going is anything by pleasant. After one disastrous hurricane, and with a second one working its way up the coast, it’s time to convince Aunt Sandy to abandon her little seaside store on North Carolina’s Outer Banks and return to the family fold in Michigan.
  
  But when the storm sweeps through, the three women will discover that sisterhood and the sea can change hearts, lives, and futures...often in the most unpredictable of ways.

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  Never Say Never (Unabridged)

  Lisa Wingate & Johanna Parker From best-selling author Lisa Wingate comes Never Say Never, an enthralling blend of small-town charm and wholesome romance. Kai Miller has never put down roots and doesn’t intend to change. Yet when a hurricane evacuation brings her to Daily, Texas, she begins to reexamine her tumbleweed ways. After meeting Kemp Eldridge, she can almost see herself settling down—until her dreams are dashed when she hears he’s promised to another. But locals have learned to never say never—especially when Aunt Donnetta is cooking up a scheme.

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  The Tidewater Sisters: Postlude to The Prayer Box: Carolina Chronicles (Unabridged)

  Lisa Wingate Tandi Reese and her sister, Gina, have always been bound by complicated ties. Amid the rubble of a difficult childhood lie memories of huddling beneath beds and behind sofas while parental wars raged. Sisterhood was safety....once. But now?
  
  Faced with legal papers for a fraud she didn't commit, Tandi suspects that her sister has done something unthinkable. With Tandi's wedding just around the corner, a trip to the North Carolina Tidewater for a reckoning with Gina was not part of the plan. But unraveling lies from truth will require confronting strained sibling bonds and uncovering a dark family secret that could free Tandi from her past or stain her future forever.
  
  (Novella)

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  The Sandcastle Sister: A Carolina Chronicles (Unabridged)

  Lisa Wingate An Outer Banks novella.
  
  I want to be like this stretch of freshly cleared shore. At times I think, I'm ready. Let the waves wash over me. But then I catch myself running from the tide just before it happens....
  
  New York editor Jen Gibbs knew when she bought Evan Hall's next blockbuster book, it would change her career. She didn't know it would change her life. But after being sent along on the European book tour, at Evan's request, she has made a promise she's not sure she can keep - she's crossed professional lines and accepted Evan's surprising engagement proposal. Now she's scared to death. In Jen's family, marriage represents the death of every dream a woman holds for herself.
  
  Can the revelation of her mother's long-held secret open the doors to Jen's future and change her beliefs about life and love?