Author Debuts ‘Gypsy’ Saga with Flamenco Flavor

Laura Shepard Townsend will talk about ‘The Gypsy’s Song,’ her historical novel about a Rom (gypsy) girl who flees from Romania during World War I to Venice, California, on Thursday, April 28, 7:30 p.m. at Village Books, 1049 Swarthmore. Joining Townsend to celebrate will be Palisadian flamenco guitarist Charles Henry Schwartz and dancer Patricia Purwin. The couple will open with an escobilla d’alegras, a brushing dance, segue into a buleria, and finish with the mother of flamenco forms, the solearis. Because the Rom rarely associate with anyone but their own kind, little is known about these secretive and romantic people. Townsend will give an illustrated presentation on what she has learned about the wisdom of the Rom in the early 20th century, a time when ‘the gypsies’ wandered about the world in their painted and gilded wagons. Townsend will also discuss the writing of ‘The Gypsy’s Song,’ read excerpts and sign books. Since coming to California in 1975 Townsend has produced commercials and later moved over to writing scripts for films and commercials. Over the last eight years, she has been plotting her quartet ‘Destiny’s Consent,’ and writing ‘The Gypsy’s Song,’ which is the first in a series. In Book One she lays the foundation of Angelica Grastende’s journey. Grastende, a Gypsy girl, lives an idyllic childhood within her Rom ‘klan’ in the Europe of 1913. Abruptly, this all changes with the onset of ‘The Great War,’ when the persecution of the Gypsies becomes increasingly more violent, and a great misfortune occurs to the klan with a terrible reprisal. Angelica and her family are forced on an odyssey, which takes them over the Atlantic Ocean and eventually across the America of the 1920s. Born to entertain, all find jobs in a small family circus, and small, daring Angelica becomes a celebrity flying on the trapeze. The Gipsy Kings have kindly donated a copy of their new acoustical CD, ‘Roots,’ which will be raffled off Thursday night. Wine and cheese will be served.