- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: Puffin; First Edition edition (30 Mar 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0141382783
- ISBN-13: 978-0141382784
- Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 13.8 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 692,776 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Year the Gypsies Came
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More About the Author
Product Description
Sunday Times
'Beautifully, powerfully and compellingly written...extraordinarily moving'
Observer
'This outstanding first novel arcs beautifully to its terrible climax and is deeply moving'
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
Mother, Sarah and I arc in Mother's powder-blue bathroom. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Mother, Sarah and I arc in Mother's powder-blue bathroom. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This tale starts in Johannesburg in the late 1960s, during the years of Apartheid. We hear about how the Iris family take in house guests because they are trying to cover up their own unhappiness in their home. They have 2 daughters, 11-year-old Emily and her older sister, Sarah. Emily enjoys having these guests because whilst they have visitors her parents try to tone down their arguing. However, a group of travellers come stay and things don't go to plan and take a turn for the worse. The travellers are an Australian couple with two sons. At first, Emily and Streak become firm friends, and Sarah takes Otis, who is brain-damaged, under her wing. But then a dreadful tragedy occurs and nothing is ever the same again. Emily turns to their servant, Buza, who tells her his Zulu folk tales in an attempt to help her understand her problems.
This book covers many themes, such as abuse, rape, racial crimes and parental neglect, yet is immensely readable.
This book covers many themes, such as abuse, rape, racial crimes and parental neglect, yet is immensely readable.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I share the previous reviewer's surprise that this book has not made a major sensation and won all the prizes. I think perhaps we can put it down to the publisher not spending enough money plugging it rather than any fault in the book. It's stunning and should become a classic: I hope sanity prevails over the lack of hype and that it does find its place in teen literature. It is highly original in concept, exquisitely well written, moves at just the right pace, is full of wonderful and unusual characters. It's also the first book which ever made me realise how it felt to be a white person in South Africa during apartheid, even though this is just a peripheral part of the story. It tells of two daughters of warring white parents in South Africa. Their luxurious lifestyle and appealing surroundings seem sterile, and the children get their doses of reality and wisdom from the African servants - perhaps these are portrayed with just a tiny bit too much of a rose tint - and that's my only criticism. Into this life comes a wandering family - dad who is a wildlife photographer, Mum who was once a burning lady in a circus and wears a python round her neck, and two sons- a gross retarded one and an unhappy young one who yearns for a normal settled life. I won't give away the plot but it is full of feeling, tragedy, loss and love. This beautifully written book held my interest all the way through and sometimes I shed a few tears.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I really didn't like this book - I couldn't imagin the Iris parents entertaining the gypsies it was so not their character to socialize with such rough necks...it also seems an unlikely friendship between the girls and the boys - if their was any humour in the book I missed it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great book but missing something...
I really enjoyed this book and was meaning to read it for ages, yet never got round to it!
I thought the characters were really well developed and I connected with them... Read more
I thought the characters were really well developed and I connected with them... Read more
Published 1 month ago by josieeex
The Year the Gypsies Came
I found it really hard going and I can't see how it would appeal to many teens. Basically it is all about a young girl and her relationships with her sister (close0 and parents... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Ady
lovely book
It's been a while since I read any of Linzi's work and I don;t know why I have left it so long because her books are fab. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Kirsty at the Overflowing Library
a must read
this was one of the better books of recent years. it was exciting, interesting, haunting, unusual and more. all in all, a good read! Read more
Published 20 months ago by boogie's mum
A Modern Day 'To Kill a Mockingbird'
`The Year the Gypsies Came' is narrated by 2 year old Emily Iris. Emily lives in Johannesburg with her sister, Sarah, Mother, Father and two Zulu servants, Lettie and Buza, the... Read more
Published on 9 Aug 2008 by Sarah Durston
Disappointing
Having read reviews I thought I'd give this book a try but I didn't find it as appealing as some others did. I found it rather slow and very little really happens throughout. Read more
Published on 4 Jun 2008 by Jo Public
Stunning
This book has got to be one of the best things I've read all year, and I read for a living! It is beautifully written, has great plot and pace, and provides a brilliant insight... Read more
Published on 4 Dec 2007 by C. Hughes
Heartbreaker
I couldn't put this beautifully and succinctly written book down till I had finished it. Linzi Glass manages to balance humour and horror to maintain a realistic atmosphere and... Read more
Published on 22 July 2007 by K. O'Callaghan
Painfully honest. A beautiful book.
I read The Year the Gypsies Came quite a while before it was published, and I did wonder what sort of an impact it would have on the Teens' and Adults' fiction market. Read more
Published on 2 April 2006 by M. Lee
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