The novel, "Zoli," by Colum McCann, is roughly based on the life of Gypsy poet Branislawa Wajs. She was a member of a traveling group of Gypsies in Poland, who achieved literacy. Her poems and songs then were published, and then used against her and the Gypsies as a whole by government policy-makers, who wanted to stop and force the settlement of nomadic groups. The argument was that "these people" -would benefit from release from the primitivism of the caravans. In fact, those policies in most cases took away the livelihood of the itinerant musicians, basket-makers, metal workers and others across Europe as the Halt trend spread, reducing the groups to dependency in crowded high-rises.
Read any of these for the plot outline, the political contexts including Fascism and Communism in Slovakia, WWII and holocaust Slovakia and Poland, post-Communist era, and the Romani people, the character Zoli, inspired by the real "Papusza," in particular.
1. Seattle Times - //seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2003509350_zoli07.html
2. Montreal Gazette ://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/books/story.html?id=48e838be-e37d-4d98-a756-79b3d100508d
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