Angelina's Children

'Few gypsies want to be seen as poor, although many are. Such was the case with old Angelina's sons, who possessed nothing other than their caravan and their gypsy blood. But it was young blood that coursed through their veins, a dark and vital flow that attracted women and fathered numberless children. And, like their mother, who had known the era of horses and caravans, they spat upon the very thought that they might be pitied.' So begins the story of a tribe exiled to the outskirts of the city, outlawed and ostracized by society. Esther, a young librarian from the town, wants to teach Angelina's grandchildren to read. She runs into a wall of suspicion but eventually manages to tame the children and gain Angelina's confidence. Dealing with the widow's five sons is another matter.

"'A wonderful portrait of a woman both imperial and bruised, a greying ravaged mother-wolf that still controls all those around her. A novel of rhythm and grace, a beautiful voyage with the gypsies.' Le Monde 'A beautifully feminine and fertile book...Ferney's prose at its most powerful.' Le Figaro 'Ferney, in this restrained and lyrical novel, allows you to glimpse the flaw at the heart of man's nature. A flaw that too often results in men being kept at the margin of humanity by other men.' Lire"

Alice Ferney, born in Paris in 1967, studied business management at university and combines her life as a novelist with that of a professor at the University of Orleans. She is married, is the mother of three children and has written six highly acclaimed novels. Angelina's Children won the literary prize Culture et Bibliotheques pour Tous. Emily Read is a well known translator from French. She has published a number of titles of non-fiction and fiction, including The Reckoning by Georges Simenon.