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.
Read this exclusive extract now, as chosen by library staff across the UK for the BBC Radio 2 Book Club.
