The novel begins in Czechoslovakia in the early 1930s when Zoli, a you ng Roma girl, is six years old. The fascist Hlinka guards had driven m ost of her people out onto the frozen lake and forced them to stay the re until the spring, when the ice cracked and everyone drowned - Zoli' s parents, brothers and sisters. Now she and her grandfather head off in search of a 'company'. Zoli teaches herself to read and write and b ecomes a singer, a privileged position in a gypsy company as they are viewed as the guardians of gypsy tradition. But Zoli is different beca use she secretly writes down some of her songs. With the rise of the N azis, the suppression of the gypsies intensifies. The war ends when Zo li is 16 and with the spread of socialism, the Roma are suddenly regar ded as 'comrades' again. Zoli meets Stephen Swann, a man she will have a passionate affair with, but who will also betray...
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The novel begins in Czechoslovakia in the early 1930s when Zoli, a you ng Roma girl, is six years old. The fascist Hlinka guards had driven m ost of her people out onto the frozen lake and forced them to stay the re until the spring, when the ice cracked and everyone drowned - Zoli' s parents, brothers and sisters. Now she and her grandfather head off in search of a 'company'. Zoli teaches herself to read and write and b ecomes a singer, a privileged position in a gypsy company as they are viewed as the guardians of gypsy tradition. But Zoli is different beca use she secretly writes down some of her songs. With the rise of the N azis, the suppression of the gypsies intensifies. The war ends when Zo li is 16 and with the spread of socialism, the Roma are suddenly regar ded as 'comrades' again. Zoli meets Stephen Swann, a man she will have a passionate affair with, but who will also betray her. He persuades Zoli to publish some of her work. But when the government try to use Z oli to help them in their plan to 'settle' gypsies, her community turn s against her. They condemn her to 'Pollution for Life', which means s he is exiled forever.She begins a journey that will eventually lead he r to Italy and a new life. Zoli is based very loosely on the true stor y of the Gypsy poet, Papsuza, who was sentenced to a Life of Pollution by her fellow Roma when a Polish intellectual published her poems. Bu t Colum has turned this into so much more - it's a brilliantly written work that brings the culture and the time to life, an incredibly rich story about betrayal and redemption, and storytelling in all its guis es.
