Emilia's family are Romanian gypsies and believe she has brought shame on them. Locked in the family's rooms in a refugee hostel, isolated and afraid, she finds a notebook and begins to draw a picture diary of her life: poverty and persecution in Bucharest, the family's flight to England hidden in a lorry; her joy at going to school, and the family's abrupt departure following a race riot. And as she finishes the last picture, she is shocked into an act of courage that may open the door to freedom. Gaye Hicyilmaz has a rare gift of empathy and her picture of the closed world of Romanian gypsies, and of the racial hatred they encounter, is truthful, uncompromising, and compelling.
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Gaye Hicyilmaz lived in Turkey for many years, much of that time in the city of Ankara, which provided the setting for her first children's book, Against the Storm. Inspired by a true story in the Turkish press, it was first published in England, where it was shortlisted for the Whitbread Award in the children's fiction category and was runner-up for the Gu
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