Gypsy Boy: My Life in the Secret World of the Romany Gypsies

Cover of Gypsy Boy

Walsh, Mikey. Gypsy Boy: My Life in the Secret World of the Romany Gypsies. Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin Press, 2012, c2009. Hardcover.  278 p. $24.99. 978-0-3120-62208-4.

 

Under the pseudonym of Mikey Walsh, the author has written about his life, changing names and identifying details as well as sometimes creating composite characters.

This is truly an awful book in both senses of the word.  Terrible in what this young gay slightly effeminate boy had to endure the worst possible family and culture for such a boy,  but also full of awe in how he survived and finally came out whole and happy.

His father, just about the most evil person I have ever encountered, was a bare-knuckle fighter who would have been a champion among the British Romany Gypsies if he hadn’t been surpassed by his older brother.  Determined that his oldest son Mikey would become the new champion, he forced the boy to train everyday and fight every older boy and man who came along. After consistently losing, Mikey always got a beating from his abusive father. If his mother tried to stop his father, he beat her too.  In addition, Mikey’s uncle repeatedly raped him.

Rescued by his first boyfriend Caleb during his early teens, a Gorgia (non-Gypsy), Mikey suffered from his father’s vendetta against the non-Gypsy boy and his father. When Caleb discovered that Mikey was only 15, he left the boy and left him to survive on his own.

This memoir, originally published in Britain in 2009, demonstrates that truth is often more terrible than fiction. While the author tells about his horrifying family, he also describes the secretive mores and customs of the isolated British Romanis. Despite the fact his lack of education, he writes in a straight-forward, smooth, and moving style.  According to the website, this book is being made into a movie.  A sequel, Gypsy Boy on the Run, was published in 2012.

Libraries interested in the survival of gay boys in terrible situations and/or in the culture of Romany Gypsies will want to get this book.

Reviewer: James Doig Anderson, Professor Emeritus

Library and Information Science, Rutgers University

 

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