The journey of a learned young man living with Romanies.

A British Gypsy family "e;The Boswell's"e; arrive in New York in 1868. Adam, a gypsy wheeler dealer; the hero of the book leaves on a 2,000 mile journey to a boom town in Texas. On a Train stagecoach with many stops and places, he encounters a couple of con artists, moody jewellery, a pretty gypsy girl in West Virginia and a Marshall. In Memphis; pit dog fights, a Creole girl, the Mississippi boat, a killing and in Aberline; gambling, a knife fight, gun play and a mafia beauty. His thoughts regularly going back to full chapters of a gypsy family life in old England; of Hare coursing, fishing, hedgehog hunting, real gypsy fortune telling, travelling and occasionally the real gypsy language Six long winters camped at a Lord's Manor; two cultures each learning from the other, a family feud settled in Hereford, romance and much more - two stories coming together as one, 20 years apart, coming together in America. Adventure, romance, animal interest, fights, travel and culture, but his main problem...Women!

The Romany Rye

"The Romany Rye" by George Borrow is a novel written in 1857 as a sequel to Lavengro. The story itself follows the journey of a learned young man living with Romanies. It is a philosophical adventure story of sorts. It also contains what could be called ethnographic material on the customs and views of the Romani women. Excerpt: "I awoke at the first break of day, and, leaving the postillion fast asleep, stepped out of the tent. The dingle was dank and dripping. I lighted a fire of coals and got my forge in readiness. I then ascended to the field, where the chaise was standing as we had left it on the previous evening. After looking at the cloud-stone near it, now cold, and split into three pieces, I set about prying narrowly into the condition of the wheel and axle-tree. The latter had sustained no damage of any consequence, and the wheel, as far as I was able to judge, was sound, being only slightly injured in the box."