Keeper of Lost Children

My grandfather's brother, Uncle Edgar, served in the military during the Double V campaign.

At ninety-one years old, he does not discuss his time in service very much, but I've always wondered what it was like for him and other Black men to join the recently desegregated armed forces. I wondered about the soldiers, believing themselves to be liberated from the crushing blow of American racism, arriving in Germany to find so many German women ready to love them.

That's when I discovered Germany's shameful treatment of the so-called Mischlingskinder, the children sired by German white women and their Black American lovers. And I learned about the heroic efforts of Mabel Grammer to find these children homes with Black American families. I could not stop thinking about those children, and what happened to them once they arrived in America. Did they live happily ever after? Or did they feel displaced in their new environment?

Beautiful Children is a triangular story about three people from opposite worlds, and the heart-wrenching secret that was left behind. The novel explores themes of identity, desegregation, alcoholism, the blush of young, forbidden love, and the power of forgiveness and familial reunion.

About the Author

Sadeqa Johnson, a former public relations manager, spent several years working with well-known authors such as J.K. Rowling, Bebe Moore Campbell, Amy Tan and Bishop T.D. Jakes before becoming an author herself. She is the international best-selling author of five novels and the recipient of the National Book Club Award, the Phillis Wheatley Award and the USA Best Book Award for best fiction.

Her most recent novel, Yellow Wife, was named by Oprah Magazine as "27 of 2021 Most Anticipated Winter Historical Fiction books." Yellow Wife was also a 2021 Goodreads Choice Award finalist for historical fiction, a 2022 Hurston/Wright Foundation Legacy finalist, a BCALA Literary Honoree, the Library of Virginia's Literary People's Choice Award winner, and a Barnes & Noble book club pick in paperback. Sadeqa's novels have received starred reviews from Kirkus and Library Journal and have been featured in top reads lists by NBC News.com, Good Housekeeping, Christian Science Monitor, Reader's Digest, Off The Shelf, W Magazine, Country Living, Hollywood Life, Parade, She Reads, and many others. She is a passionate public speaker, writing coach and Kimbilo Fellow. She teaches for the MFA program at Drexel University and is a writing mentor for Story Summit.

Originally from Philadelphia, Sadeqa currently lives near Richmond, Virginia, with her husband and three children.