Travelling Histories: Books on Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History

May 1

16th May is Romani Resistance Day, when we remember the rebellion of Romani prisoners in Auschwitz against their Nazi jailors in 1944. To honour this day, and to look forward to Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month in June, we have created a reading list celebrating and exploring Gypsy, Roma and Traveller histories.

May is also Local History Month, and of course Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history is local history as well as European and global history! Pick up one of these books today.

16th May is Romani Resistance Day, when we remember the rebellion of Romani prisoners in Auschwitz against their Nazi jailors in 1944. To honour this day, and to look forward to Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month in June, we have created a read

Travelling Histories: Books on Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Yaron Matras – I Met Lucky People David Cressy – Gypsies: An English History Damian Le Bas – The Stopping Places Katharine Quarmby – No Place to Call Home Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Yaron Matras I Met Lucky People Who are the Romani people? As one of the last remaining societies in the Western hemisphere with a strictly oral culture, they have no written record of their history that can be consulted. Matras gives us the firs

David Cressy Gypsies: An English History Gypsies have been vilified and romanticised by the settled population over the centuries. David Cressy now attempts to disentangle the myth from the reality of Gypsy life over more than half a millennium of

Damian Le Bas grew up surrounded by Gypsy history. His great-grandmother would tell him stories of her childhood in the ancient Romani language. But his own experience of life on the road was limited to car journeys to sell flowers. To better under

Katharine Quarmby No Place to Call Home For centuries the Roma have wandered Europe; during the Holocaust half a million were killed. After World War II, a wave of Irish Travellers moved to England. Then, as Occupy was taking over Wall Street and

Kiran Millwood Hargrave The Deathless Girls Gothic, intoxicating, feminist and romantic - this is the untold story of the brides of Dracula. On the eve of her divining, the day she'll discover her fate, seventeen-year-old twins Lil and Kizzy are

Vanessa Harbour Flight In 1945 Jakob shelters with Herr Engel in a rural Austrian stable, where they hide valuable stallions they know Hitler wants to steal. When a German officer comes looking for Jakob and finds the horses, Jakob and his guardia

This action-packed story is told through the eyes of young Lijah, as he navigates life and discovers football and the legendary Rab Howell. “Quick history of Rab Howell: born in a wagon on a camp like yours about thirty years ago. He played for Uni

Klaus-Michael Bogdal Europe and the Roma This book describes a dark side of European history: the rejection of the Roma from their arrival in the Middle Ages to the present day. Over this period, the Roma spread out across the continent and became

Nicola Penfold Where the World Turns Wild Juniper Greene lives in a walled city from which nature has been banned, following the outbreak of a man-made disease years earlier. But she and her brother Bear have always known about their resistance to

Bartley Gorman King of the Gypsies Bartley Gorman was the greatest bareknuckle fighter of modern times. He reigned as King of the Gypsies for twenty years, beating all comers in illegal contests at fairs and racetracks, down mineshafts and in quar

Further suggestions for reading... Abi Elphinstone - The Dreamsnatcher Mikey Walsh - Gypsy boy Dominic Reeve - Smoke in the Lanes Rosie McKinley - Gypsy Girl David Almond - The boy who swam with piranhas Jeremy Harte - Travellers through time:

Charlotte Geater

Travelling Histories: Books on Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History

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