Rabbit Stew and a Penny or Two: A Gypsy Family's Hard Times and Happy Times on the Road in the 1950s

by Maggie Smith-Bendell

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
52	3	502,263	(4)	2
Full of the language and lore of the Gypsies, this remarkable memoir offers insight into the Romani way of life from an insider's perspective. Maggie Smith-Bendell shares stories from her traditional Gypsy childhood in the rural South of England, from traveling the countryside and facing hardships, such as the death of a family member, to catching wild animals and earning a living from the woods, hedgerows, and fieldwork in the area.… (more)

all members

▾Members

Recently added by

EerieState, UnmeshAhire, bijou.venus, simonamitac, GuildfordInstitute, tomcrawshaw, aspsongdo, Hattie58, preeti1sfr, revmias

▾Tags

autobiography (5) biography (2) childhood (1) cysw (1) ebook (1) Europe (1) goodreads import (1) Great Britain (1) gypsies (4) gypsy (2) historical fiction (1) history (1) Ireland (2) Krystl (1) memoir (4) native-dalit-roma (1) non-fiction (4) on-my-bookshelves (1) on-my-radar (1) Possible (1) read (1) Roma (2) Romani (2) Romany (2) Smith-Bendell - Maggie (1941- ) (1) to-read (4) UK (1) vardo (1) what-she-said (1) wishlist (1)

▾LibraryThing Recommendations

▾Member recommendations

00
A Field Full of Butterflies: Memories of a Romany Childhood by Rosemary Penfold (geophile)
geophile: If you enjoy either of these books, it might be interesting to compare the other. One child grew up as a gypsy in England, the other in Ireland.

▾Lists

None

▾Will you like it?

▾Conversations (About links)

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 2 mentions

▾Member reviews

date ▼ | votes

Showing 3 of 3

This is a really interesting memoir about a gypsy family in 1950s England. It was quite upsetting in places as it tells of the hardships faced by the family and the ways they were discriminated against. (

)

26kathryn | Feb 28, 2013 |

It's not 'literature', but as a window on another culture (and time), fascinating. Really changed my perspective. (

)

ranglydanglyspangly | Feb 25, 2012 |

A fascinating account of the life of the author, Maggie Smith-Bendell. Now an advisor to Travellers, she recounts the story of her life from when she was born in a pea-field to the present day. As well as explaining many of the customs and traditions of the Romani, she shows how lack of education marginalises people. Well worth reading. (

)

Welshwoman | Nov 27, 2010 |

date ▼ | votes

Showing 3 of 3

▾Published reviews

no reviews | add a review

▾Other authors

» Add other authors

▾Series and work relationships

▾Awards and Honors

view history

▾Common Knowledge

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.

For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.

Canonical title

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

Quotations

Last words

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

▾Book descriptions

Full of the language and lore of the Gypsies, this remarkable memoir offers insight into the Romani way of life from an insider's perspective. Maggie Smith-Bendell shares stories from her traditional Gypsy childhood in the rural South of England, from traveling the countryside and facing hardships, such as the death of a family member, to catching wild animals and earning a living from the woods, hedgerows, and fieldwork in the area.

▾Library descriptions

No library descriptions found.

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

Haiku summary