A False Dawn
My life as a Gypsy woman in Slovakia
Ilona Lacková (translated by Milena Hūbschmannová)
This remarkable life story, an inspiration to the author’s fellow Roma, gives a vivid picture of life in a pre-war Gypsy settlement on the edge of a Slovak village. Transcribed and edited from recordings in Romani, it depicts the terror of wartime and the exhilaration caused by the arrival of the Russians when, for a time, new opportunities in the socialist state beckoned.
Ilona witnessed the destruction of the Romani culture, language and way of life during this ‘false dawn’ but Romani traditions remain the guiding force of her life.
Selected as a TES "Book of the Week".
"All the vigour, joy, brawling, loving, squabbling, music, witchcraft, religion and racism of Gypsy life spills out of this picaresque account"
David Altheer, The Times
Interface Collection Volume 16
ISBN-10 1-902806-00-X
ISBN-13 978-1-902806-00-6
May 2000, 240pp
Paperback £11.99 / US$23.95
