Once Upon a Secret

This pseudonymous autobiography is a surprising eye-opener to a culture both lyrical and brutal. Persons of Romani descent, gypsies live mostly in Europe, many in Spain. The only famous names I recognize are guitarists Ronnie Wood (Rolling Stones) and Django Reinhard. Though Walsh has since left The Life, his upbringing was totally wild-ass, with cockfights, pirated movies, and adventures in shoplifting with his Aunt Minnie. Food was mostly take-out, but Sundays featured Jimmy Grey, a dish of "swede, onions, animal fat, liver, beefsteak, chicken, and pork, all shallow fried." After the grown-ups literally bored each other to sleep, kids drew on their faces. Cultural details abound, with Walsh holding that gypsy culture is superstitious (Dalmations are good signs), calls for scrupulously clean homes (mostly caravans, or trailers), and dictates that women work in the home. Ideally, men do odd jobs for elderly gorgias (nongypsies), charging criminally high sums—and thus frequently running afoul of Johnny Law. Unfortunately for Walsh, bare-knuckled fighting is heavily prized in gypsy culture, and his ex-champion dad forced him to "train" from an early age. This entailed lining up each morning to receive five to ten progressively harder gut punches, which routinely knocked him senseless across the room. An intriguing and affecting read. — Douglas Lord, "Books for Dudes," Booksmack! 11/3/11