GYPSY BOY

GYPSY BOY
Mikey Walsh

 

Walsh's un-put-downable memoir about growing up in trailers, moving between camping sites across the country and pulling scams with his family. Fifty pages in and all romanticism is abruptly stripped away with some shocking descriptions of systematic abuse. Growing up in the shadow of a renowned gypsy prize-fighter, Walsh is subjected to daily beatings in order to toughen him up to follow in his father's footsteps. Alienated by his inability to live up to his father's expectations and the secret  knowledge that he is gay he finds himself trapped in a cycle of violence and oppression.  

Walsh knows when to pull back from describing the bleakness of his upbringing, injecting colourful descriptions of hisfamily and humorous anecdotes at just the right moment.

 

"Gypsy Boy is a brilliant but bittersweet story, which reads like a magical fairytale. Although he could be excused for doing so, Mikey never descends into self pity - and has found the perfect balance between humour and harsh reality. Gypsy Boy sits somewhere between the grittiness of Irvine Welsh, and the charming warmth of Frank McCourt". – Dermot O'Leary

 

288 pages,  paperback