- Hardcover: 400 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd; First Edition / First Impression edition (6 May 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0743220870
- ISBN-13: 978-0743220873
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.2 x 4.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,003,433 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
A Gypsy boy, born to a travelling tribe, must survive the Second World War to discover love and his own true identity. It is 1927. Yenko is born in a barn in rural Bohemia to a tribe of Coppersmith Gypsies. Traditional people who survive by plying their skills as they travel throughout Central Europe, they live through the Depression and the rise of Nazism. But the greatest danger comes from the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the German army. Yenko escapes the clutches of the invaders but is forced to adopt many guises in order to survive and rescue his family and his love. If he succeeds he can truly become a Romany man - but in the end who is he? From the rural Gypsy traditions of the inter-war era, through the Nazi invasion, culminating in the drama of the Prague Uprising of May 1945, Louise Doughty has created a breathtaking novel of grand scope, based on the history of the Romany people and her own family ancestry.
About the Author
Louise Doughty is a journalist and broadcaster. In 1990, she was the recipient of an Ian St James Award for a short story and a Radio Times Drama Award for her first play, MAYBE ME, both of which received widespread critical acclaim. She is the author of CRAZY PAVING, DANCE WITH ME and HONEYDEW and three plays for radio. She lives in London, N7.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As well as murdering 6 million Jews, Hitler did his best to exterminate the Gypsies. This is the story of how just one escaped, Yenko, from a copper-working Romany tribe, thanks to the sacrifice made by his heroic mother, and his own luck and intelligence. His birth, childhood and journey into manhood against the background of the Nazi rise to power make history live. Doughty is herself part-Romany, and writes with real passion and insight as well as what looks like a lot of research. Her characters break your heart.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a wonderful book, moving and passionate. The characters are real and touchable. The story is full of the kind of true detail that's completely absorbing. It tells the story of a Romani family and how their lives are destroyed by the Nazi's. Its a tough subject, but this book is really worth it. It doesn't shy away from the realities, but neither does it dwell unnecessarily on the worst of it. The places and major events are based on fact. So I learned a lot, as well as being totally gripped by a brilliant story. Buy this book!
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Up to now, Louise Doughty has written fairly small scale domestic dramas, entertaining but limited in their scope. With this book she stakes a claim as a serious novelist tackling the biggest issues and succeeds brilliantly. The history of a gypsy family in eastern europe during the second world war can only be a tragic story. Doughty turns an unflinching eye on the worst that humans can do to each other, with an anger that is barely suppressed, but without resorting to simplistic value judgements. The story is dark and the misery is piled up until you wish for some joy to lighten the mood, but Doughty builds your interest in her characters so that you can't stop reading.
The subject matter of the book is likely to put off a lot of people. Sadly, anti-gypsy prejudice is alive and well, from Romania to Norfolk. This matters to Doughty and she has devoted energy and passion into this book. Don't be put off. Read this book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Started out well
Fires in the Dark follows the fortunes of a Roma family in the years leading up to world war two and the war years. Read more
Published on 13 Aug 2007 by Mme
I love this book!
I bought it after a read about it in the Guardian, comparing it to Dostoevsky...it's wonderful to find someone living writing about big, tragic things instead of small, trivial... Read more
Published on 3 July 2003 by "amy17148"
I could not put it down
I had only the vaguest idea of the gypsy Holocaust, so found this a fascinating and very moving story. Read more
Published on 5 Jun 2003
moving and absorbing tale of gypsy Holocaust
Anyone who has previously read Doughty's elegant comedies will be very surprised by this, a historical novel apparently based on her own family history. Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2003 by A. Craig
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