Gypsy Boy on the Run: My Escape from a Life Among the Romany Gypsies

Mikey Walsh didn't know what life was like beyond his Gypsy community. But after fleeing home at age fifteen, he had no choice but to find out.

After centuries of persecution, Gypsies are wary of outsiders, and if you choose to leave, you can never come back. Torn between his family and his heart, Mikey struggled to come to terms with the Gypsy culture and its violent, conservative traditions. At last, he decided to set out on his own. He soon discovered the outside world wasn't all that he expected, and his life would never be the same again.A shocking yet ultimately triumphant memoir, Gypsy Boy on the Run follows Mikey as he comes to terms with himself, his family, and his past―and builds a new life for himself.

Mikey Walsh left the Gypsy community and moved to London. It is the longest he has ever stayed in one place. He taught himself to read and write and now works at a primary school as a teaching aide, and picks up the formal education he missed out on as a child. He is also the author of the internationally bestselling memoir Gypsy Boy.