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Louise Doughty
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Book
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Publisher | Simon & Schuster | ||
ISBN | 9780743440394 | ||
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Reviewer
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Jayne
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Synopsis
'Elijah Smith was born in the graveyard of the church at Werrington, a village in the Soke of Peterborough. I can tell you this for certain, as I am his mother and so was there at the time.' Clementina is barely sixteen when she falls pregnant. Other girls had been put out on the highroad for less, but Clementina's Dei and Dadus stand by her. But the Travellers are treated with suspicion wherever they go, and soon the family are rounded up by the 'gavvers', accused of poisioning local livestock. As the Romany people struggle to survive the changes of the twentieth century, Louise Doughty charts one family's path through persecution and tragedy, asking, can the Romany spirit survive in a century that no longer has space for them?
Review
Brilliant book not what I expected at all. This is a timeless story of two women who love to hate each other but do respect each other in a funny kind of way. Clem Smith as a young girl gives birth to her son Eiljah out of wedlock, many have been thrown out of their own homes for this but not Clem. Her mother and father stand by her and support her all the way.
From there extends a fab story of a gypsy family and the woes and troubles that they get involved with over two generations.
Beautifully written and a real page turner. I loved this book for the care and presentation of a delicate subject matter and also for the telling of the rest of the story in such a wonderful way.
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