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.
Ethel Gathers, the proud wife of an American Officer, is living in Occupied Germany in the 1950s. After discovering a local orphanage filled with the abandoned mixed-race children of German women and Black American GI’s, Ethel feels compelled to help find these children homes.
Philadelphia born Ozzie Phillips volunteers for the recently desegregated army in 1948, eager to make his mark in the world. While serving in Manheim, Germany, he meets a local woman, Jelka, and the two embark on a relationship that will impact their lives forever.
In 1965 Maryland, Sophia Clark is given an opportunity to attend a prestigious all white boarding school and escape her heartless parents. While at the school, she discovers a secret that upends her world and sends her on a quest to unravel her own identity.
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.
Meet Sadeqa
Sadeqa Johnson is a New York Times bestselling author of six novels. Her previous novel, The House of Eve was an instant New York Times Best Seller, Reese’s Book Club selection, Target Book Club pick, nominated for a NAACP Image Award and a 2023 Goodreads Choice award finalist. Her upcoming novel, Keeper of Lost Children, will be published on February 10, 2026.
Books by Sadeqa Johnson
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The House of Eve
Fifteen-year-old Ruby Pearsall is on track to becoming the first in her family to attend college, in spite of having a mother more interested in keeping a man than raising her daughter.
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Yellow Wife
Born on a plantation in Charles City Virginia, Pheby Delores Brown, has lived a privileged life. Shielded by her mother’s position as the plantation's medicine woman, and cherished by the Master's sister, she is set apart from the others on the plantation, belonging to neither world.
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Fallen Grace
A single mother in segregated Virginia pushes back on societal prejudice and her own family’s judgment in an emotionally powerful short story.
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and then there was me
Bea and Awilda have been best friends from the moment Awilda threw her fourteen year-old self across Bea’s twin-sized bed as if they had known each other forever.
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second house from the corner
Felicia Lyons struggles to sprint ahead of the demands of motherhood while her husband spends long days at the office. When the children won’t stop screaming her name or arguing over toy trucks and pretzel sticks, she sometimes wonders what it would be like to get in her car and drive away.
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Love in a Carry-On Bag
Can a long distance love affair really survive? Erica Shaw spends her week babysitting the country’s bestselling authors for one of the top publishing companies in New York City. But on Friday nights she escapes to DC, where her sexy-lipped musician boyfriend, Warren Prince, works and performs.