News of the World

And here he was in his mild and mindless way still roaming, still reading out the news of the world in the hope that it would do some good, but in the end he must carry a weapon in his belt and he had a child to protect and no printed story or tale would alter that.

I have a confession to make. Even though I am from Texas and have always lived here (except for a semester in college when I lived in Washington, D.C.), I don’t read a lot of Texas books. I don’t really seek out Texas authors, and I tend to shy away from books about Texas. Why that is I’m not sure, except that I have my own opinions about Texas, and perhaps I don’t want them messed with. But when several people, including my mom and Anne Bogel, recommended News of the World by Paulette Jiles, I decided to make it my Bucket List Book Club pick for August and “force” myself to read it. Guys, this is a book about Texas written by a transplant Texan who lives about an hour away from me. And y’all, I’m so glad I did.

News of the World takes place just after the Civil War, when there was still a ton of unrest in Texas, no one trusted each other, and the relationship between Texans and Indian tribes was contentious at best. Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a military veteran, travels around Texas reading news stories from international newspapers to crowds of people, who all pay to listen. They lose themselves in the news and tragedies of far away countries that don’t quite seem real in order to forget their own problems for a little while. At one of his stops, he is offered $50 to return a girl, Johanna, who was kidnapped by the Kiowa tribe to her remaining family in San Antonio. For four years she has been living with the Kiowas, and she no longer seems to remember her family, how to speak English, or where she came from. The bulk of the book is about their journey together and how they each grow and change.

First of all, I just want to say that you MUST read this book, if only to read it before the Tom Hanks movie version comes out. It is so well written and well researched. It takes place during a very interesting and confusing time in Texas history, but I think a lot of parallels can be drawn to today’s history as well. (People losing themselves in news from other countries to escape thinking about our own news? Yup.) The book strikes a nice balance between a quiet story and intrigue. Yes, it’s a quiet book, but I absolutely wanted to know what happened after every chapter. Along those lines, I think this book would be best read in one or two sittings. I took too many breaks, and I wish I had just sat down and read it straight through. It’s a long journey, but a short book, and really lends itself to a lazy day spent in a comfy chair.

News of the World is such a good story and such a quick read, I really think everyone should give it a try. It’s amazing to see Captain Kidd’s journey from not wanting to take Johanna at all to becoming attached to her and fully invested in her happiness and wellbeing. Johanna’s story is heartbreaking (read the author’s note at the end), but is tempered by the story of a tough old Texan soldier turning into a softie. Sort of. It also has one of the best, most beautiful final chapters of a book I’ve ever read.

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EXTRA!

There are no quotation marks used in this book! The absence of quotes was a little jarring at first, but I ended up really appreciating it. Whenever I see quotes on a page, my eye is automatically and involuntarily drawn to them, and I often have to go back and re-read what came first. Without quotes, I really paid attention to each sentence as it came, instead of looking ahead to the dialogue.

Before We Were Yours

I hold Huckleberry Finn real tight against my chest and start across the yard. Now we can leave this place behind anytime we want. All we gotta do is join up with Huckleberry Finn. There’s room on his raft for all five of us, I’ll bet. Maybe we’ll find the Arcadia out there somewhere.

I sat for a good 20 minutes trying to figure out what to say to convince you all to read Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate, and there just aren’t enough words for it. If you haven’t read it yet, please, please read it! This is historical fiction based on the true story of Georgia Tann and the Tennessee Children’s Home Society that operated in the early half of the twentieth century. It is shocking, heartbreaking, important, and, at its heart, hopeful. This was our Bucket List Book Club selection for May, and I am so, so glad that I read it.

The story is told in alternating chapters. It begins in Memphis in 1939 with Rill Foss and her 4 brothers and sisters. They live on a boat in the Mississippi River with their parents, but when their mom must be rushed to the hospital during a difficult birth, the 5 remaining children are taken to the Tennessee Children’s Home Society in order to be placed (sold) with other (wealthy) families who are looking to adopt. In present day Aiken, South Carolina, Avery Stafford is busy building her career as a lawyer, taking care of her ailing politician father, and figuring out if she really wants to be with her fiancé. When a chance encounter with an elderly woman in a nursing home, she begins to look into her family’s past and discovers some secrets she’s not sure if she’s ready to find out. The two stories weave themselves together and illustrate the truth behind the Children’s Home: families were torn apart, siblings were separated, and it was by pure luck if they were able to find each other again later in life.

There is a mystery in the novel, namely the journey the Foss kids went through, how they were separated, and where they all ended up. While this particular story is made up, it is heavily rooted in truth. Children were taken from their families (always poor families who were unable to fight and get their kids back) and sold to wealthy families who wanted to adopt. My heart broke for the children in this novel (who represent real people). They had no one to advocate for them, and were expected to trust the adults in the orphanage and do what they said, even though all of the adults involved continued to let them down. The amount of strength they showed, particularly Rill, was incredible. Avery’s storyline in the present was just as compelling, in a different way. She was so busy with everything going on in her life, and finally slowed down to investigate her family’s past. She managed to make time for that, showing that we all have time for things we think are important. (And how telling it is what we choose to make time for.)

Before We Were Yours is an amazing book. So well written, so well researched, and so important. Before this book, I was unaware of this part of American history, and I can’t believe I didn’t know the story. This storyline is sad and heartbreaking, but also interesting from a historical standpoint, and the ending is uplifting. The alternating chapters do a nice job of breaking up the sadness of the past story, and it will make you want to read more about Georgia Tann. (She was really unbelievable.) Let me know if you’ve read this book and what you thought!!

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