Fires in the Dark

by Louise Doughty

A Gypsy family in Europe is the focus of this novel, which begins in the idyllic days of the 1920s, when it was possible for these nomadic people to live normal lives--marrying, having children, fixing up the wagons they live in, working as coppersmiths and itinerant fruit-pickers. Then, with the rise of Hitler, their lives are utterly changed, as they are packed off to the camps in Czechoslovakia. The novel follows the fortunes of one family, culminating in the escape of young Emil, who survives the war to be reunited with the woman he loves.

Editions of Fires in the Dark

	ISBN 9780060571221	Binding/Format Hardcover	Publisher Harpercollins	Date 2004	Price $1.00	Like New
	ISBN 9780060571238	Binding/Format Paperback	Publisher Perennial	Date 2005	Price $2.22	Good

Publisher Notes

Fires In the Dark reveals the highly secretive and misunderstood world of the coppersmith gypsies.

In 1927, when prosperity still reigns in Central Europe, Yenko is born to two Coppersmith Gypsies. His parents, Josef and Anna, are nomads who raise their son during the relative calm of the Great Depression of the 1930s. Soon, though, dangerous times threaten to unsettle their family, as their heritage makes them vulnerable targets for ethnic cleansing. As Germany invades Czechoslovakia and the conflicts of World War II begin to unfold, Yenko and his parents become fugitives, forced on a journey that promises only great uncertainty and offers survival as a remote possibility. In the course of their flight, the burden of an ancient tradition rests entirely on Yenko's shoulders.

In capturing the desperation and perseverance of one family during an extraordinary time in history, Louise Doughty pays powerful homage to an insular and little-known culture.

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