Full of colour and pathos, Maggie's stories spring to life on the page: magical days at the old horse fairs, fights and rows and making up again, the time her life was saved by a mysterious old woman.

At the heart of Maggie's story is her 'gorgie mush', Terry, whom she loved and married in spite of her family's strong disapproval that he wasn't a Gypsy. Together they embraced each other's way of life, bringing up their children to love the best of both their worlds.

The turning of the seasons was the Gypsies' calendar and Maggie and her family were tuned in to every sign that the year was moving on: the different wild flowers taking their turns to show, the crops ripening, the smell of snow in the air. From the pea fields of Somerset, where she was born, to the hop gardens of Herefordshire and to Devon, Dorset and Wiltshire too, Maggie's family travelled constantly back and forth, all of them pitching in to make their living, all of them loving their close-knit family and their unique way of life. But in spite of centuries of tradition, in the last sixty years the old ways have changed beyond recognition.

This book is intended to keep the memory of the old ways alive as the Gypsies' journey continues.

Read an extract from After All These Years