The Girls with No Names

 The Girls with No Names by Serena Burdick  336 pages

 It never fails to surprise me when I read about atrocities that humans commit upon each other.  At the heart of this novel is the House of Mercy. A historical reality in New York that many families threatened unruly daughters and wives with unless they conformed to societal rules.

 

It is 1913. Sisters Effie and Luella are spoiled, wealthy young ladies, in their early teens I believe, who do their best to be like all the other girls their ages. Their father isn’t around much and their mother is cold and distant and almost obsessively religious.  I found this surprising considering Effie’s heart defect. She hasn’t been expected to live as long as she has. I thought she’d be more coddled and fussed over.

 

While out exploring the nearby woods, the girls wander upon a gypsy camp. Luella is mesmerized. Night after night, the girls sneak out of the house to the woods’ fringes and eventually into the company of these mesmerizing free spirits. Luella feels that they know the secrets of her soul.

 

Then, unexpectedly and shockingly to the sisters, their father begins to take them to lunch at Delmonico’s. At first, they are excited and stunned. Stunned by Father’s actions. In time, Luella figures it out: Father is using them as a cover to be seen publicly with his mistress.

 

When Luella runs away from home, Effie is certain that Father has sent her up the hill to the House of Mercy. Although her heart slows her down, Effie is convinced that she can save her sister.  Effie manages to run away from home and get herself taken up to the House.

 

Once Effie realizes that her sister isn’t there, no one believes her story---that she doesn’t belong there, that all the staff has to do is contact her parents.  After a while, a heart wrenching while, Effie makes friend with one of the other girls, Mabel.

 

I found the structure of this novel perplexing.  It’s told from three points of view: Effie’s, her mother’s and Mabel’s.  Why didn’t we hear from Luella?  Another point of contention that I have is that there is no real suspense in the story. Once the author let me know what each chapter’s story was, I knew what was going to happen.  Based on these points “The Girls with No Names” receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Marco Effect: A Department Q Novel

The Marco Effect:   A Department Q Novel by Jussi Adler-Olsen   512 pages

Marco is a good boy.   An avid reader, though in secret because his Gypsy family doesn't see the need to go to school and doesn't trust anyone outside their own "family."   Uncle Zola rules the family with an iron hand and isn't above any treachery when it comes to stealing, conning and making money, even murder is not off limits to this violent man.      Many underhanded and clandestine events occur and when the family turns against 15 year old Marco and Marco becomes privy to where a body is buried things heat up throughout the rest of the story to its final climactic twist.  No one is safe not even in their own homes and in a John Wick 3 thriller ordeal surprises and twists abound.     A good book that will hold your interest throughout.   I would recommend this book highly to mystery lovers, especially murder mystery lovers, and all who find interpol police work fascinating.    There is a hodge podge of nations and killers brought in to find Marco.   Jussi Adler-Olsen tells a great story.

Gypsy Boy

Gypsy Boy: My Life in the Secret World of the Romany Gypsies by Mikey Walsh      288pages

Excellent Book!   Mikey Walsh tells the real down and dirty side of Romany Gypsy life.   He shares some of the lingo Gypsies use as part of their special language that they do not share with non-Gypsies, he also tells what it is like in the very male dominated lifestyle of Gypsy life.   Gypsy women are treated like princesses growing up and are expected to marry between the ages of 14 and 18.   If not married by 18 they are considered spinsters and it is hardly ever done for a Gypsy man to consider marriage to a girl that old.    Gypsy men are taught to be tough from about the age of 7 years old when they are taught to fight and work along side their male relatives.   Mikey's family had held the prized role of his paternal grandparents being Gypsy royalty (tribe elders) and also they were known for their skills at bare knuckled fighting.   Before Mikey was 7 his father would take him out to train for fighting as he wanted to keep the title going down the lineage.  Unfortunately, Mikey was never good at fighting so his father ended up beating him up as well as any comers looking to challenge him.    Embarrased, his father would take Mikey out after his having lost a fight and his Dad would beat him up again for shaming him.   This did not stop until a non-Gypsy friend from town helps Mikey escape.   Sadly his life away does not get much better than what he left because his father and male family members come after him and beat his friend, and his friend's family and friends up threatening worse violence unless they told his Dad where he was.   Then after several beatings, his friend goes off the deep end and begins to take out his frustration at the situation on Mikey, beating him unmercifully, too.   Along with this Mikey has endured being molested for years by an Uncle that his father would not allow him to talk about and beat him for lying.   It is surprising the boy survived his childhood at all.   Also Gypsies so no need for school and few of them could read or write beyond sounding things out and trying to spell them.  Once when the governement made the Gypsies send their kids to school it lasted only about 3 weeks.   The Gypsies were kept in a separate class from the other kids whose parents did not want them associating which was fine with the Gypsy kids because their parents didn't want them associating and being brain washed by the non-Gypsy kids at school.   Seems Mikey had a tortured life the whole way through.   There are some bright spots and it is an exceptional read to get a voyeur's view at what is inside all those caravans.   I would recommend this to anyone middle school on up.   It is such a great introduction to what Gypsy life is actually like today.   It is also a good look and understanding of how hard some people's lives are and so unjust.  Excellent Read.

The Invisible Ones

The Invisible Ones, by Stef Penney, 399 pages

Ray Lovell is a private investigator.  He is also half-Romany, which makes him the only option for investigating the disappearance of a young Gypsy woman who hasn't been seen in years.  The travelling community is a tight-lipped one that doesn't take to strangers of any kind, making Ray's investigation harder than it should be.  But as Ray gets closer to the truth, he realizes that young Rose Janko's disappearance is the least of the mysteries he must uncover.  This was an acceptable mystery, with an ending that wasn't obvious.  There are also some interesting insights into the British travelling community.

The Barefoot Queen

The Barefoot Queen by Ildefonso Falcones    647 pages

Port of Cadiz, Spain, January 7, 1748. Caridad steps onto shore a free woman for the first time in her life. Her master died on the voyage from Cuba, but he gave her her freedom before he perished. All she has to her name is her papers, a straw hat, and a small valise that contains a shift. She is barefoot, never having worn shoes. She is overwhelmed with the hundreds of people, the languages, the noise, and the port’s hustle-and-bustle.

Caridad follows Father Damian Garcia, the chaplain on the ship, through the gate into the town of Seville. Don Damian brushes her off, telling her to go find work. Back in Cuba, she had worked on a tobacco plantation was quite knowledgeable on the plant.

By a stroke of fate, she meets a teenage Milagros Carmona, a rebellious, stunning beautiful, buxom, and sexy gypsy. Milagros is instantly enchanted with the Negress. After following her back to her part of town, Caridid is allowed to sleep outside Milagros’ grandfather’s room. He takes a liking to the big-breasted, wide-hipped woman, especially her singing.

As the call of the vagabond retakes Melchor’s heart, he often disappears for days at a time. Behind him he leaves Caridad to fend for herself. Soon Milagros and the Negress are best friends. However, the rest of the clan looks down on the woman so unlike them.

When the gypsies are rounded up and sent to prison, Milagros, Caridid, and Melchor are lucky enough not to be around. Their adventures lead across Spain and into Portugal, smuggling tobacco, into downtown Madrid, into love, and into death over the next several years.

The story that unfolds is a lushly detailed novel, evocative tale of the gypsy life. Sometimes the story is slow, sometimes it’s fast, sometimes it’s horrifying, and still sometimes it’s so beautiful that it almost hurts to read it. I found myself repulsed by the raping of women, especially Caridad. It’s a way of life to which she’s become accustomed.

After I finished the novel I felt as if I had been a witness to the gypsy lifestyle, to the dangers they face because of their race, and to the poverty so many experienced. The novel is rich in historical details, which made me wonder how long it took for Falcones to write this superb tale.

One of the things that I didn’t like/understand is the title. Neither Caridad nor Milagros is The Barefoot Queen.  Milagros rises to become a singing/dancing sensation known as “The Barefoot Girl,” but that’s as close as it gets. I cannot in good conscious give it a four star rating, but this little misstep makes me want to give it a four-point-five rating. Since I cannot do that, I’ll give it five stars. 

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.