Born into a Romany gypsy family in 1939, Eva Petulengro’s childhood seemed to her to be idyllic in every way. She would travel the country with her family in their painted caravan and spend evenings by the fire as they sang and told stories of their past. She didn’t go to school or visit a doctor when she was unwell. Instead her family would gather wild herbs to make traditional remedies, hunt game and rabbits, and while the men tended horses to make a living, the young girls would join th...

For Romany Eva Petulengro, marrying outside her culture was a big step to take. And now she had to adapt to living with a gorger - and her husband had to adapt to living with her! In this charming sequel to The Girl in the Painted Caravan, she describes their first eventful years of married life in Brighton, and the birth of their four childrenShe also reveals how she became famous as a clairvoyant, the advice her clients needed, and the attack from an enraged wif...

With the reputation as the hardest and most dangerous female criminal in Britain, Gypsy Jane Lee was feared and respected throughout London's criminal underworld. This is her true story. During a terrifying journey that began as a 14-year-old armed robber, she has been shot four times, tasered three times by police and served three jail terms. Convicted for armed robbery she was released from prison only to go out and attempt to murder four people. Gypsy Jane has led a life packed with cri...

'I felt like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and all the other fairy-tale princesses, and Pat was my Prince Charming.'Sam Skye Lee had often thought about getting married, but never imagined that her dress would be bright pink with flashing lights and weigh a staggering 20-stone. But then she didn't count on having a gypsy wedding...It's rare for a 'gorger', or non-traveller, to marry into the gypsy community. But after a shocking childhood tragedy, Sam fou...

Thelma Madine, star of Channel 4’s Big Fat Gypsy Weddings and fairy godmother of extravagant wedding dresses, reveals the drama, secrets and surprises involved in ten incredible traveller weddings.Through the tales of ten elaborate gypsy wedding dresses, Thelma Madine, trusted confidante and dressmaker extraordinaire, offers a window onto the world of traveller brides and their unbelievable celebrations.For Thelma’s young brides, a wedding dress is more than just a pretty w...

Born on a Somerset pea-field in 1941, the second of eight children in a Romani family, Maggie Smith-Bendell has lived through the years of greatest change in the travelling community's long history. As a child, Maggie rode and slept in a horse-drawn wagon, picked hops and flowers, and sat beside her father's campfire on ancient verges, poor but free to roam. As the twentieth century progressed, common land was fenced off and the traditional ways disappeared. Eventually Maggie married a hou...

More "heartwarming reminiscences" of Scottish Traveller life from the author of Jessie's Journey and Tales from the Tent ( Sunday Post).In this book, Jess Smith concludes her riveting autobiographical trilogy, tracing her eventful life with Dave and their three children from their earliest years together. Their adventures and achievements are interspersed with stories of her parents' childhoods, her father's "tall tales," and the eerie ec...

'A wonderful tale of 1950s Britain... a vivid account of a midwife's lot' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Amazon reader review'I couldn't put it down' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Amazon reader review'Charming, sad, humorous and poignant' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Amazon reader review*****The compelling and heartwarming true story of a young nurse's life and work in 1950s England, from the Sunday Times bestseller.'Three small children pee...

Discover the heart-warming and uplifting story of a Glasgow tenement urchin finding her way against adversityBorn during the Second World War in Glasgow, Christine Fraser was her mother's eighth child.Growing up with her siblings in a tiny flat, learning to avoid her hardworking, hard-drinking one-eyed father, making a menace of herself in the streets along with the other urchins, Christine lived an impoverished life but never once cared.Until she w...

The poor boy who made his fortune . . . not just once but twice.Little Jeff Pearce grew up in a post-war Liverpool slum. His father lived the life of an affluent gentleman whilst his mother was forced to steal bread to feed her starving children. Life was tough and from the moment Jeff could walk he learned to go door to door, begging rags from the rich, which he sold down the markets.Leaving school at the age of fourteen, he embarked on an extraordinary jo...

This is the true story of Jimmy Cryans. A story of growing up in Glasgow's east end during the fifties and sixties and how he became involved in a life of crime. Jimmy speaks about the various characters he met and his dealings with some of Britain's major criminals. He reveals how petty theft and shoplifting quickly snowballed into armed robbery with raids on banks, jewelers and security vehicles. But Jimmy's story also explains his lifelong quest to find himself and how it eventually led...

‘I’m going to love my baby and give her lots of attention,’ Jade said. ‘I’ll show my mum she’s wrong.’Jade, 17, is pregnant, homeless and alone when she’s brought to live with Cathy. Jade is desperate to keep her baby, but little more than a child herself, she struggles with the responsibilities her daughter brings.Cathy is worried as soon as Jade arrives: she’s never looked after a pregnant teenager before, but none of the mother and baby carers is free, and – seventeen ye...