Mikey Walsh. 2010. Gypsy Boy. My Life in the Secret World of the Romany Gypsies. New York: Thomas Dunne Books St. Martin’s Press.

Gypsy Boy is the autobiographical story of Mikey Walsh, a Romani boy belonging to the Gypsy community[1] in the UK, who had to abandon his family because of his LGBTIQ identity. Throughout the book, the author describes his childhood in a Romani family, residing in caravans, moving to different campsites, earning a living via various formal and informal activities, segregated from the rest of society. Mikey’s childhood is marked from the beginning by a violent relationship with his father who, unsuccessfully, tries to make him a bare-knuckle fighter, and the difficulties of blending into the patriarchal environment in which he finds himself. Here, sex is taboo, preventing him from speaking openly about his sexuality. Gender roles are sharply defined: men are expected to fight other men, experience sex at an early age with gadjo (non-Roma) and marry a Gypsy woman a few years later, spend nights drinking in pubs talking about fights and money, and prove their virility both inside and outside their community. As a result, all forms of sexuality which fall outside this model must be hidden and rejected, with no opportunity to face them. Mikey pays the tragic price for this when he falls victim to sexual violence committed by his uncle, which his father, even when told of it, refuses to acknowledge. Only at the end of the novel does the author have the strength to escape this circle of violence and find someone willing to accept and support him.