Gypsy boy : my life in the secret world of the Romany Gypsies / Mikey Walsh.

"First published in Great Britain by Hodder & Stoughton"--T.p. verso.

The birth of a pig boy -- Wonder years -- Sisters grim -- Taking a punch -- A bungalow with Barbie graveyard -- A school and a big city -- Welcome to Warren Woods -- The club -- Boot camp -- That evil Bowers girl -- Kevin -- The monster in the woods -- Fate of the Munchkin Queen -- Moving on -- Twelve-year-old man -- Take me with you -- Regret -- A new start -- The wrath of Frankie -- Sex education -- Caleb's plan -- Today.

Mikey was born into a Romany Gypsy family. They lived in a closeted community, and little is known of their way of life. After centuries of persecution Gypsies are wary of outsiders and if you choose to leave you can never come back. This is something Mikey knows all too well. Growing up, he didn't go to school, he seldom mixed with non-Gypsies and the caravan became his world. Eventually Mikey was forced to make an agonizing decision, to stay and keep secrets, or escape to find somewhere to belong. His father and grandfather were champion bareknuckle boxers in England's Gypsy community. But Mikey had no interest in fighting. He was proud of his heritage and loved his mother and sister, but as he grew older he came to realize he had a secret that would never be accepted: he was gay. This memoir reveals, for the first time, what life is really like among the Romany Gypsies. It is a culture apart, one that is equally more criminal and more puritanical than our own.