Gypsy Boy: The bestselling memoir of a Romany childhood
About this ebook
'It was a revelation. Moving, terrifying, funny and brilliant. I shall never forget it - an amazing achievement' STEPHEN FRY
'Brash and frightening and funny' NEW YORK TIMES
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The Sunday Times bestselling Gypsy Boy was the first commercial memoir written by someone on the inside of the notoriously secretive culture of the Romany Gypsies.
MIKEY WAS BORN into a Romany Gypsy family. They live in a closeted community, and little is known about their way of life. After centuries of persecution Gypsies are wary of outsiders and if you choose to leave you can never come back. This is something Mikey knows only too well. Growing up, he rarely went to school, and seldom mixed with non-Gypsies. The caravan and camp were his world.
But although Mikey inherited a vibrant and loyal culture, his family's legacy was bittersweet with a hidden history of grief and abuse. Eventually Mikey was forced to make an agonising decision - to stay and keep secrets, or escape and find somewhere he could truly belong.
Mikey's amazing story is continued in the sequel Gypsy Boy on the Run.
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About the author
Mikey Walsh was one of the first Romany Gypsies ever to write a book. He grew up living in a caravan on sites across the UK, and had hardly any schooling. He taught himself to read and write, and his first book Gypsy Boy published in 2008 and became a Number 1 Bestseller. It sold all over the world and a film adaptation is in the works as a joint production between BBC Films and Bowery & Bond.
Mikey's second book, Gypsy Boy on the Run follows Mikey as he leaves the Gypsy camp, and takes his first steps in to the real - Gorgia - world, to find a place to belong.
Mikey has had overwhelming support from all over the world since the publication of Gypsy Boy, including Stephen Fry who tweeted, 'It was a revelation. Moving, terrifying, funny and brilliant. I shall never forget it - an amazing achievement'. Attitude magazine called it 'the best memoir since Running with Scissors' and even Dermot O'Leary and Dannii Minogue have reviewed it.
