Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa Johnson (2026)
This one will hit you hard with its wide range of storytelling, dramatic force and ultimately tug on your heartstrings without mercy.
Author Sadeqa Johnson casts a powerful light on the plight of mixed race children, fathered by black American soldiers amid the demolished cities and society of post World War 2 Germany. Scorned as outcasts, these white German mothers and their reviled babies fell into a tortured existence that left the children uncared for, unloved and abandoned into orphanage or even worse, the streets. .
The scope of this epic tragedy slowly but assuredly unwinds through the narratives of three different generations of black characters. In 1951 Germany, Army wife Ethel Gathers , shaken by her visits to one of the orphanages, becomes a relentless advocate and champion for the mixed raced children. She becomes a very public and beloved figure as she cuts through mountains of red tape to arranges for black American families to adopt the children.
In 1965 Maryland, teen farm girl Sophie secures a scholarship to a enter a exclusive highly rated private school as one of its few few black students accepted. There she not only deals with the vile bigotry and bullying of white students, she discovers that in Ethel Gathers' crusade, she may uncover the clouded mysteries of her own birth and childhood. And in 1948 Philadelphia, young Ozzie Phillips, with a hot temper sometimes aggravated by alcohol, enters the post war Army as new recruit. Shipped off to a devastated Germany Ozzie, like many other lonely soldiers, falls into an ill fated relationship with a young German girl, Jenka.
Every one of these separate narratives is told with equal compelling fervor that kept me rapidly turning the pages to find out what happens to all three of these vividly drawn characters. And in the book's last third, when it's made clear how their lives will intersect and collide, there are more than a few sequences designed to leave readers blinking back tears..
Outstanding in every regard, and telling a story that demands to be heard, 'Keeper of Lost Children' is the epitome of 5 star ' must read right away'. book. (*****).
No comments:
Post a Comment