A scarlet wheel on a blue and green flag, bright against the grey sky. Gisela leaned against the stone balustrade, tired after the journey. She'd forgotten how hectic London was, and wondered how she'd ever managed to cope with the daily commute... But she was glad she'd come. Glad she'd brought Andrej. It was important for her young son to know his roots.

Spokes is made up of stories from across the Traveller world featuring British Gypsies, settled and still travelling; Irish Travellers; East European Roma; and people whose Romani background has remained under wraps in the face of a hostile world. There's an old violinist, a middle-aged mechanic, a young radio presenter, a schoolboy, a retired banker, a tea-lady, and a teacher. Sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic, every story is based on real incidents.

Janna Eliot is a member of the Gypsy Council, the Roma Support Group and plays guitar with the London Gypsy Orchestra.

Beneath the Blue Sky can be read as a social document or simply the experience of one Traveller’s life on the road over the last fifty years. Beneath the Blue Sky does not romanticise Romani life but reveals how people have lived, survived – and thrived – at a time of enormous pressure to integrate. Includes a glossary of Romani words used. Dominic Reeve is the author of four books on Gypsy/Travelling life – this is his first new book in 40 years. Now well past retirement age within the “settled community” he continues to work, selling goods from door to door.


"In this fascinating and valuable book, Dominic Reeve once more offers an insight into the world of Travellers." - Roma Virtual Network

The image of a young girl looking back from a train is one of the iconic images of the Holocaust. She appears for seven seconds on a film of a transport bound for Auschwitz. Aad Wagenaar, a Dutch journalist, decided to discover the identity of the girl whose image had haunted him all his life.

His task took him two years, leading from the Westerbork transit camp in Holland, to war archives, and to Jews who had survived Auschwitz. It had always been assumed that the girl in the wagon was Jewish. But Wagenaar had been looking in the wrong place. His search led him to the Dutch Sinti (Gypsy) community where he could finally tell the world who the girl was.

The child was Settela, from a Gypsy family, murdered in Auschwitz. She was ten years old. This book is Aad Wagenaar’s account of his search.

Aad Wagenaar is a well-known Dutch press and TV journalist, and historian of WW11. Settela, his sixth book, was made into a Dutch television documentary.

Janna Elliot, who translated Settela, is the author of several books for children.

Ian Hancock writes on the Holocaust (Porrajmos — the Devouring — in Vlax Romani) as it affected the Romani and Sinti people. Dr Hancock teaches Romani studies at the University of Texas. He represents Romanies on the US Holocaust Memorial Council.