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Settela's Last Road

by Janna Eliot

109 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #07-2561; ISBN 1-4251-5702-5; US$12.09, C$12.09, EUR8.26, £6.24

1944. A Gypsy encampment in wartime Holland. 9 year old Settela is hauled from her caravan and sent to Auschwitz with her family. She dreams of leading her people to safety.

About the Book

Wartime Holland, 1944. Nazis occupy the land. Nine year old Settela - a Dutch Sinti Gypsy - tries to make sense of what's going on around her. But no one will tell her the truth. There are only sudden silences and unanswered questions. Distant gunshots and the rumble of German tanks on the roads.

Then, one dawn, policemen raid Settela's encampment. Settela and her family are hauled from their caravans and sent to Kamp Westerbork. Three days later they are transported to Auschwitz.

Struggling to understand the insanity of the adult world, Settela dreams of rescuing her people and leading them to safety.

Suitable for both adults and teenagers, Settela's Last Road tells a gripping story about an often ignored part of Holocaust Studies - the experiences of the Sinti/Romani people during the cataclysmic years of the Nazi regime.

Readers' comments -

"A kind of Gypsy Anne Frank. Every school should have a copy."

"Moving and beautiful - it made me cry."

(This novel is an imaginative interpretation based on historical characters and events. Inspired by the haunting photograph taken by Rudolf Breslauer in 1944, it uses details from SETTELA, a factual account by journalist Aad Wagenaar.)

About the Author

I'm a Londoner with roots in Eastern Europe. I write novels, articles, poems and stories, and review books with Romani themes for various magazines and online websites.

I've taught English in Russia, Ukraine, France and Spain, and to refugees in London. Other jobs include acting, art therapist in a Psychiatric Unit and music therapist in a Day Centre.

I supplement my income by painting the Gypsy designs I learnt from my grandmother onto reclaimed furniture, which I sell at fairs. I play guitar with the London Gypsy Orchestra and I'm a member of Exiled Writers' Ink!