The next book to be featured this season on the Sara Cox Radio 2 Book Club is Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa Johnson—a sweeping story of one woman’s dream in post-World War II Germany and the three lives it changes forever.
The book will be released on 12 February and Sadeqa’s interview with Sara is on BBC Sounds from Tuesday 10 February.
Read an exclusive extract.
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Keeper of Lost Children
In the smouldering ruins of post-war Germany, Ethel Gathers – an American woman longing for a child – spots a group of mixed-race children following a nun through the cobbled streets. Compelled by a force she can’t explain, Ethel follows them and uncovers a hidden community of abandoned children, born to Black soldiers and German women. Determined to help, Ethel’s actions set off a chain of events that will echo across generations.
In 1948, Ozzie Philips volunteers for the U.S. Army. But in Occupied Germany, he finds that the racism he tried to escape has crossed the ocean with him. Then he meets Jelka, a German woman navigating her own grief in a shattered country. Their connection, immediate and intense, changes everything.
By 1965, fifteen-year-old Sophia Clark is chosen to join a prestigious boarding school. When a chance encounter with a classmate reveals a deeply buried truth, Sophia begins a journey to unravel her past and find her place in the world.
Against the odds and across continents and decades, these three characters’ lives collide – their fates forever altered.
About the author
Sadeqa Johnson, a former public relations manager, spent several years working with well-known authors such as J.K. Rowling, Bebe Moore Campbell, Amy Tan and Bishop T.D. Jakes before becoming an author herself. She is the international bestselling author of five novels and the recipient of the National Book Club Award, the Phillis Wheatley Award and the USA Best Book Award for best fiction.
Her most recent 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, writing coach and Kimbilo Fellow. She teaches for the MFA program at Drexel University and is a writing mentor for Story Summit.
Originally from Philadelphia, Sadeqa currently lives near Richmond, Virginia, with her husband and three children.
Get involved
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