The Year the Gypsies Came

By Linzi Glass and linzi-glass

Book Overview

Set in apartheid South Africa, this powerful and lyrically written novel is Linzi Glass's debut. As twelve-year-old Emily Iris explains it, her mother and father have always been eager to take in travelers and vagabonds, relying on the presence of outsiders to ease the tension between them. Emily has her gentle older sister, Sarah, and Buza, the old Zulu nightwatchman, for company and comfort. But her parents' continuing discontent leads them to welcome some peculiar strangers. One spring, a family of wanderers--a wildlife photographer, his wife, and two boys--comes to stay, and their strange, compelling, and dangerous presence will leave the Iris family infinitely changed.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805079998
• ISBN13: 9780805079999
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
• Length: 260 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.7" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

One of the finest books to come out of South Africa since Alan Paton's "Cry the Beloved Country"

This beautifully written novel evokes so realistically the memories I have of a place and a time where I lived as a child. The story is both haunting and hopeful. The Year the Gypsies Came will enthrall adults and teenagers alike. I can't wait to share it with my sixteen-year-old daughter.

worth six stars

a stunning, engrossing and wonderfully compassionate story magically told by a writing master. A must read for any adult and young adult.

ENTRANCING, OUTSTANDING DEBUT NOVEL

The Year the Gypsies came made me miss a dinner date! I simply could not put it down, and read with tears streaming down my face until well after midnight. A poignant story, wonderfully written whose characters will remain with me forever. A must read!

magic revisited

The Year the Gypsies Came is a magical, mystical tale from South Africia told by a magnificant writer with a deep connection to the Zulu warrior and the universal qualities of the human being. I could not put it down. Magical realism from Africa! Wow!

Fantastically Written

I read this book out of curiosity! I had heard so much about it, I was pleasantly amazed. Linzi Glass, throughout the entire book kept my interest, Her very descriptive writing style had me envisioning everything in my minds eye, the entire read was very pleasureable, experiencing every emotion. I would recommend all read it!