February 2026

Sadeqa Johnson has an interesting origin story for KEEPER OF LOST CHILDREN. While doing research for her last book, THE HOUSE OF EVE, she came across an article about Mabel T. Grammer, an African American journalist whose “Brown Baby Plan” led to the adoption of 500 mixed-race German orphans after World War II.

Sadeqa tucked that idea away, but she pulled it back up after she submitted THE HOUSE OF EVE. From reading about this one woman’s vision for rescuing these children, she created her character Ethel Gathers, the wife of an American Officer assigned to Occupied Germany in the 1950s.

Ethel is unable to have children, but she learns of an orphanage close to where her husband is stationed where she can spend time with babies and young children. She visits there and is overwhelmed by the number of mixed-race kids who have been abandoned. Jim Crow laws kept the African American soldiers from marrying their white German girlfriends, and the families of these German women wanted nothing to do with these children.

With that setup, Sadeqa produced a book that gives readers a 360-view of the impact of this situation on these children and the parents who bore them.

Ozzie Phillips volunteered for the army as it was desegregated and heads to Germany in 1948. He meets a woman named Jelka, and they have a baby daughter. Ozzie heads home, but he longs for Jelka and the child he left behind. He builds a life for himself, but there’s always something missing.

Sophia Clark lives in rural Maryland. She is very intelligent and is offered a life-changing scholarship at school, where she is one of the few Black children. Her family lacks the money and pedigree of some of the other Black students; she clearly is a fish out of water there. But this is better than life on the farm where she lives with her parents, who see her as little more than a farmhand.  

Sadeqa weaves the stories of these three individuals together, challenging each of them, but at the same time giving them grace. It’s a brilliantly written story that lends itself to a great book group discussion.

I had a fascinating conversation with Sadeqa about KEEPER OF LOST CHILDREN. You can watch the interview here or listen to the podcast here.