ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book is a work of fiction but in the writing of it some books were very useful to me. They were: Stone Age, by the Swiss Yenish writer Mariella Mehr; Gypsies Under the Swastika, The Gypsies During the Second World War: From Race Science to the Camps, and The Final Chapter: Gypsies during the Second World War, by Donald Kenrick; A Gypsy in Auschwitz, by Otto Rosenberg; Travels Through the Paint Box, by Victoria Finlay; Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey, by Isabel Fonseca; and The Roads of the Roma: A Pen Anthology of Gypsy Writers, by Ian Hancock.
I’m indebted to the following people: my agent, Charlotte Robertson at United Agents, for her initial faith in the few chapters I first gave her, her steadfast support, and for making it happen; my editor, Kate Parkin, for her passionate belief in this book and her discerning and heartfelt approach in all things editorial; the team at Hodder & Stoughton and Quercus US, for their delightful enthusiasm; Lindsay Clarke—my wise man in writing and the first to encourage some semblance of worth; Andrew Miller, for his gentle assurances that all would be well and for the books he gave me; Vaughan Sivell, for the early years.
Thank you to my friends, for seeing me through the murky places: Lisa Chae, Katherine Roper, Sally and Tim Palmer, Sarah and Burn Gorman, Kate Jones, Pippa Menzies, Andrew Downey, Venetia Osborne, Alex Price, Sarah Bland, Katie Skasbrook, and Alice Wyn Edwards. And to Holly Price, for her generosity and thoughtful red pen in initial chapters; Alex and Christopher Romer-Lee, for their wise council; Geraldine Thomson, for knowing what to say; Viv Blakey, for her lovely photographs; Lisa Joffe, for the inspirational talks; Lola and Mike Straw, for supporting my work; Paul Rolleman, for sharing his sunlit home; and Stephen Taylor, for listening to the stumbled early drafts and for liking them.
And lastly, but immensely, thanks to my parents, Robin and Sheila Hawdon, for a writing room with a glass roof and a view of the sky where I could finish this book, for their time and insight, their faith in my ventures, and for being there always in the dark and the light; my sister, Gemma Lee Hawdon, for writing in cafés, for swinging on vines with me, from childhood and up into the bewildering beyond, and for being the safe haven that she is to me now; and to my children, Dow and Orly, my Apasavellos, for their love and patience and for the day-to-day sharing of a life.
The Rainbow Hunters
In the autumn of 2014, Lindsay Hawdon embarked upon a six-month trip around the world with her two young children. The “Rainbow Hunters” traveled to seven different countries to find the origin of seven different colors, the natural pigments made by the first colormen, to raise money for the charity War Child. If you would like to donate please visit www.warchild.org.uk.
If you would like to know more about the trip, please visit Lindsay’s website at www.lindsayhawdon.com or follow her on Twitter @lindsayhawdon.
Lindsay’s trip was supported in part by Inventing Futures, a global youth agency that works with nine-to twenty-four-year-olds who are at a transitional stage in their lives, giving them the chance to create a future full of opportunity. If you would like to know more please visit http://www.inventingfutures.org.
Jakob’s Colors Page 27