Book Review: Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa Johnson
Key Book Info
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Date: February 10, 2026
Page Count: 464
Listening Time: 14 hours 22 minutes
Print Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Audio Publisher: Renegade Books
Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa Johnson
Book Review and Rating
Sadeqa Johnson has done it again with Keeper of Lost Children. I don’t typically gravitate towards historical fiction, but with this author I will always say yes. Her research is DEEP and I am always blown away at how many books she reads to prepare for writing her own. The way she finds lesser-known women who had a big impact on history and brings their story to life is a gift.
In this novel, we learn the story of Germany’s Mischlingskinder, the biracial children that were born during World War II to Black American fathers and German mothers. With many of these children being left to orphanages, one woman who decided to create a program to find them homes. The character in the novel, Ethel Gathers, was inspired by the real-life Mabel Grammer. In addition to Ethel’s vantage point, we also see the perspective of two other brilliant characters: Sophia and Ozzy. Sophia is a young girl living on a Maryland farm then moving to a boarding school on scholarship. Ozzy is a young-adult Black American in Philadelphia who volunteers for the U.S. Army and is deployed to Germany.
Each of the characters were beautifully crafted and I felt each of them as if they were equal main characters. Their timelines and stories wove together in such a meaningful way. The author took her time building each one up and even developing the side characters in each of their stories. I fell in love with so many characters in this book and could have done another 200 pages to learn more, which is wild considering the book was over 450 pages already.
If you are someone who loves historical fiction, this is a no-brainer to pick up. If you don’t normally find yourself in that genre, I would still recommend it to those who enjoy deep characters and interwoven storylines. I heard an interview with the author where she said “I’m giving you all the facts. I’m giving you all the truths, but I’m sort of mixing in the sugar of fiction that makes it a bit easier to swallow.” She’s even poetic in her day-to-day life and that doesn’t surprise me one bit. She stays a must-read author for me.
The audio book is a full cast narration with voice actors who appeared in her prior books, which is one of my favorite situations. Ozzy is played by the immensely talented Adam Lazarre-White and it was the main reason I chose the audio edition of the book. Highly recommend giving the audio a try.
My rating: 5.0 / 5.0
Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa Johnson
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