March 2026 BFBC Book Pick

📚 March Book Pick 📚

Spring is in the air. And the good books keep coming! Your @bookfriendsbookclub hosts @mommaleighellensbooknook & @bigskybooks are so excited to announce our book pick for March—THE KEEPER OF LOST CHILDREN by SADEQA JOHNSON. We’re so thrilled to have Sadeqa back again! You don’t want to miss this one! @sadeqasays @simonbooks

✨ THE KEEPER OF LOST CHILDREN by SADEQA JOHNSON ✨

An American woman’s vision in post WWII Germany will tie together three people in an unexpected way.

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.

-3 POVs (Including a male character!)

-Multi timelines

-Brown Babies Program

⬇️ WHAT TO JOIN US on MARCH 30TH? COMMENT BELOW TO BE ADDED TO OUR GROUP FOR FURTHER INFO. ON DISCORD + ZOOM.

BOOK REVIEW:

{Thank you @simon.books for sending me a copy of Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa Johnson! I was also granted access to the audiobook via @simon.audio and really appreciate that they used three narrators for this multi timeline/3 POV story. Ariel Blake, Karen Chilton, and Adam Lazarre-White made Sadeqa’s brilliant story just leap off the page!}

When I see a book is 450 pages, I can’t help but groan a little. 350 pages is the sweet spot for me, but I’m here to tell you that this story flows so well! It doesn’t feel in excess—AT ALL—and I finished it in 24 hours. Sadeqa has such a knack for finding interesting untold stories such as the”Brown Babies Program” in this one. Don’t miss her author’s note at the end!

Ethel is the proud wife of an American Soldier stationed in Germany. After another month unable to conceive a child, she encounters an orphanage ran by nuns of mixed-race children. She feels drawn to them like a magnet and compelled to find out more, quickly volunteering her time and talents for the sisters.

Ozzie’s story begins when he volunteers for the Army in 1948, eager to break barriers for Black soldiers. He saw a lot of racism in his hometown of Philly and unfortunately sees just as much overseas within his unit. This has him going out more & more where the German women—who struggle with a lack of resources in their own country—show attention and kindness to the Black soldiers.

In 1965 a bright teenager, Sophia, is granted the opportunity to integrate into a prestigious boarding school. She is quite eager to leave behind working on her family’s farm and her unkind parents. At school she meets a classmate and it begins unravelling a spool of thread to her story and her connection to Ethel and Ozzie.

Writing a 3 POV + multi-timeline story was quite an undertaking, but Sadeqa did it brilliantly. Often times in historical fiction you prefer a certain character arc or timeline, but I can honestly say I enjoyed all three equally. I really think that made this one flow well and not have any pacing struggles.