Post WWII – Past Midnight Book Reviews & More

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Keeper of Lost Children

Author: Sadeqa Johnson

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 464

Publication Date: 2/10/26

Publisher: 37 Ink

Categories: Historical Fiction, Post WWII, African American

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to 37 Ink for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

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.

Lost in the streets and smoldering rubble of Occupied Germany, Ethel Gathers, the proud wife of an American soldier spots a gaggle of mixed-race children following a nun. Desperate to conceive her own family, she feels compelled to follow them to learn their story.

Ozzie Philips volunteers for the army in 1948, eager to break barriers for Black soldiers. Despite his best efforts, he finds the racism he encountered at home in Philadelphia has followed him overseas. He finds solace in the arms of Jelka, a German woman struggling with the lack of resources and even joy in her destroyed country.

In 1965, Sophia Clark discovers she’s been given an opportunity to integrate a prestigious boarding school in Maryland and leave behind her spiteful parents and the grueling demands. In a chance meeting with a fellow classmate, she discovers a secret that upends her world.

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.

Content Warning: racism, abuse, alcoholism, parents separated from children, PTSD from war, sexual harassment, bullying

+ This is the first historical fiction novel I’ve read in 2026 and I’m so glad I chose this one to request on NetGalley. I did not even know or think about Black American soldiers stationed in Germany leaving behind children of mixed heritage. This story is told in three different timelines through three POVs and I learned something in each of the POVs. I learned a lot from this book whether is was about Germany in post WWII, or what African Americans were going through during these time periods of the late 1940s-1960s. They touch on Black men and women in the military, in education, and in journalism or just looking for a job that paid well.

+ Ethel is married to a Black American soldier stationed in Germany and they have been trying to have children but can’t. So she gets into a depression but her faith leads her to finding this orphanage of children who are mixed race. Bless Ethel’s heart because she falls in loves with these kids, adopts a few of them and set out on a course to get these children adopted by sheer will and determination! Ozzie is from Philadelphia and volunteered to join the Army. He gets sent to Mannheim, Germany where he lives for awhile and meets Jelka and German woman who he has a child with. The life of a soldier is chaotic and unpredictable and it pulls him apart from Jelka and his daughter. Sophia is a mixed raced girl, living a hard life on a farm, when she gets a chance to go to a prestigious high school because she’s so intelligent. There she meets a boy with German roots and discovers the Brown Baby Program that a Ms. Ethel Gathers had started. And she wonders if she is one of these babies that was adopted.

+ The story starts off at a steady pace as we get to know each character. This is not the kind of story to speed through, because each character’s story is very important. Ethel is a big hearted woman. Ozzie, has a lot of struggles from the moment he lives in Germany to coming back to America. Though his life feels like it’s going in a downward spiral it ends with a lot of hope and joy. Sophia was interesting to follow because she is actually one of the children and she feels lost – and want to find out about her past. Their stories collide at the end and it made me emotional and I even shed a tear. It’s a story full of faith, hope and love under challenging circumstances.

Final Thoughts:

I enjoyed this story so much not only because I got to learn something I didn’t know about, but it’s full of heart and hope. Each character’s story is an important one to tell. It made me emotional and I love how the timelines helped me get to know each of the characters, and they converge beautifully in the end. This is the first book I’ve read from this author but now I have to read her other books! If you love historical fiction definitely try this one out!