'Wonderful ... A wild and captivating story' Patrick Leigh Fermor This is an enthralling account of highs, lows and lessons learnt Daily Express 'Warm and charming, providing a vivid picture of an immemorial culture in its final moments' Country Life 'A vivid panorama of life in this 'great bubbling cauldron of magic' recounted with humour, poetry and compassion. Enchanted indeed' Wanderlust 'A lyrical description of an almost vanished way of life that many of us, stuck in traffic jams, in call-centre queues and behind supermarket trolleys, probably find ourselves sometimes hankering after' Sunday Times 'Enchantment is the key word. One wonders whether this might be the book of a lifetime, with all its youthful vigour'Every page and paragraph says Blacker is a natural-born writer and teller of great tales' Daily Telegraph Elegantly written with a sharp sense of place and the seasons Independent on Sunday