Gypsy BoyGypsy Boy
An Eye-Opening Memoir of Growing Up Gypsy
Mikey Walsh was born into a Romany Gypsy family. They live in a secluded 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 didn't go to school, he seldom mixed with non-Gypsies, and the caravan became his world. It was a rich and unusual upbringing, but although Mikey inherited a vibrant and loyal culture his family's legacy was bittersweet, with a hidden history of violence and grief. Eventually Mikey was forced to make an agonizing decision--to stay and keep secrets, or escape and find somewhere to belong.
Gypsy Boy shows, for the first time, what life is really like among the Romany Gypsies. A surprise #1 bestseller in Great Britain, this is a one-of-a-kind memoir of a little-seen world, one both fascinating and heartbreaking.
Mikey was born into a Romany Gypsy family. They lived in a closeted community, and little is known of 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 all too well. Growing up, he didn't go to school, he seldom mixed with non-Gypsies and the caravan became his world. Eventually Mikey was forced to make an agonizing decision, to stay and keep secrets, or escape to find somewhere to belong. His father and grandfather were champion bareknuckle boxers in England's Gypsy community. But Mikey had no interest in fighting. He was proud of his heritage and loved his mother and sister, but as he grew older he came to realize he had a secret that would never be accepted: he was gay. This memoir reveals, for the first time, what life is really like among the Romany Gypsies. It is a culture apart, one that is equally more criminal and more puritanical than our own.
The son and grandson of Romany Gypsy champion bareknuckle boxers shares the story of his realization of his sexual orientation and reluctance to follow in family footsteps, describing his upbringing in England and how his circumstances were shaped by his culture's absolute beliefs.
The son of a Romany Gypsy champion bareknuckle boxer shares the story of his upbringing in England, his realization of his sexual orientation, and how his circumstances were shaped by his culture's absolute beliefs.
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- New York : Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, 2012.
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