From Coppersmith to Nurse : Alyosha, the Son of a Gypsy Chief

The life of Alyosha Taikon, the Swedish born son of a coppersmith, a member of the Kalderash clan of Romanies from Hungary.

After working as a coppersmith and in the family circus he trained to be a male nurse, a decision which led to his rejection by the Gypsy community.

His simply written story as told to Gunilla Lundgren has now been translated into English with the Romani (in the Kalderash dialect) version on facing pages and is extensively illustrated with photographs and humorous drawings and accompanied by footnotes for those using it as an aid to learning Romani.

The second part of this unusual book consists of English translations of some typical Romani stories first told by Alyosha's father, Johan, in Romani and recorded on tape in 1949 which have been adapted by Donald Kenrick from the English translations of Erik Ljungberg.