Keeper of Lost Children

 

In 1965 Sophia Clark is a young girl living on a farm in Maryland. She and her siblings work their fingers to the bone. They are dirt poor, and when Sophia is selected to attend a prestigious private boarding school on scholarship, she knows her life is about to change. As one of only a few Black students, Sophia begins questioning her life and her genealogy. Why does she have recurring nightmares of escaping a fire? Why do German words slip off her tongue when she doesn’t speak the language? In 1948, Ozzie Philips is a handsome young Black man in the Army. He is stationed in Germany as reparations are well underway. Ozzie is determined to prove himself capable, even as the Army suppresses its Black soldiers. He becomes involved with a desperate German woman, and finds himself caught between two worlds - to do the right right thing while also meeting the demands of military life. Narrated through two timelines that unexpectedly collide, this novel reveals the heartbreaking story of the “Brown Babies” orphaned in postwar Germany, alongside the ongoing struggles for civil rights in America. Releases February 10, 2026. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐