Alice Ferney - Angelina's Children

★★★★✰

Genre: Fiction
Synopsis: '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. And, like their mother, they spat upon the very thought that they might be pitied.' So begins the story of a tribe exiled, 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.

***

Review: Angelina’s Children is accused of lacking a plot – and perhaps it does in a sense. This novel more recounts a series of events and describes them from a Gypsy perspective, lumping the reader into an ‘outsider’ category for it’s duration. It excludes the outside world and we spend the duration of the book within a Gypsy microcosm - a world many of us are well aware of, but perhaps don’t really know anything about. However I would argue the lack of a distinct plot reflects life – simply moving ever onwards – and gives the book a distinct realism. It is not in any way created for an entertainment purpose – this book has a point about culture and it makes it without regard for creative additions and structuring. The individual characters are also perhaps not the most memorable, but as with every other short-coming it provides a different way to interpret the book – the lack of distinct personality allows the reader to form a view not just of a couple of Gypsies, but of the culture as a whole. I would even go so far as to say the author has better ideas in her mind than ability to create a ‘story’ with them – but the fact that this book does hold it’s own despite that, suggests the power inherent in the reality of what is imparted within it.

Having said that, Ferney does have a way with words. Her descriptions are optimistic and observational – observing perhaps the brighter, natural aspects of a culture that most of society would choose to ignore. The focus on women gives a soft femininity to a culture looked down upon as less than soft by most. The female outsider, Esther, who reads stories to the gypsy children is captivated by life in the camp and through her we are given a contrast between what the world does see and what it could see. She sees a wild beauty in the men, a power in the women and ordinary, impressionable, small people in the children. The children portray the most innocent and wholly good versions of the culture – the most basic unlearned minds, as eager to read, to understand, and to be understood as any other human. Through the contrast between them, their mothers and fathers it is clear what the outsider community has forced into their character as a culture.

The extent to which the book draws you in is surprising – and you don’t realize it until it releases you back into the outside world. Throughout most of the story you won’t even realize how deeply you are learning to see from a new perspective. This perspective reveals itself particularly in the visit of the Gyspies with Esther to the zoo. I found myself wanting to say to the general public, glancing awkwardly at these wild children, ‘what are you looking at??’ What are you looking at, indeed. That is certainly the most fundamental indirect question raised in the book, and it is one very much left to the reader to answer. A short, powerful read with realities which linger even when the covers are closed.

Rating: 4/5