Keeper of Lost Children

By: Sadequa Johnson

ISBN: 9781668069912

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Publication Date: 02/10/2026

Format: Other

My Rating: TBR (ARC)

FEB 2026 MUST-READ BOOKS

In this new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The House of Eve, one American woman’s vision in post WWII Germany will tie together three people in an unexpected way.

Lost in the streets and smoldering rubble of Occupied Germany, Ethel Gathers, the proud wife of an American soldier spots a gaggle of mixed-race children following a nun. Desperate to conceive her own family, she feels compelled to follow them to learn their story.

Ozzie Philips volunteers for the army in 1948, eager to break barriers for Black soldiers. Despite his best efforts, he finds the racism he encountered at home in Philadelphia has followed him overseas. He finds solace in the arms of Jelka, a German woman struggling with the lack of resources and even joy in her destroyed country.

In 1965, Sophia Clark discovers she’s been given an opportunity to integrate a prestigious boarding school in Maryland and leave behind her spiteful parents and the grueling demands. In a chance meeting with a fellow classmate, she discovers a secret that upends her world.

Toggling between the lives of these three individuals, Keeper of Lost Children explores how one woman’s vision will change the course of countless lives, and demonstrates that love in its myriad of forms—familial, parental, and forbidden, even love of self—can be transcendent.

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About the Author

Sadeqa Johnson is a New York Times Bestselling author of five novels. Her most recent novel, The House of Eve was an instant New York Times Best Seller, Target book club pick, Reese’s Book Club selection and nominated for a NAACP Image Award. Her previous novel, Yellow Wife, was named by Oprah Magazine as “27 of 2021 Most Anticipated Winter Historical Fiction books.” Yellow Wife was also a 2021 Goodreads Choice Award finalist for historical fiction, a 2022 Hurston/Wright Foundation Legacy finalist, a BCALA Literary Honoree, the Library of Virginia’s Literary People’s Choice Award winner, and a Barnes & Noble book club pick in paperback.

Sadeqa’s novels have received starred reviews from Kirkus and Library Journal and have been featured in top reads lists by NBC News.com, Good Housekeeping, Christian Science Monitor, Reader’s Digest, Off The Shelf, W Magazine, Country Living, Hollywood Life, Parade, She Reads, and many others. She is a passionate public speaker and writing coach. She teaches for the MFA program at Drexel University and is a writing instructor for Story Summit. When she’s not writing or reading library books, she’s practicing yoga, meditating, hiking and dancing.

Originally from Philadelphia, Sadeqa currently lives near Richmond, Virginia, with her husband and three teenagers. WEBSITE