Description

“A wild and bittersweet adventure into
a world none but Machvaia Gypsies know.”
-Susan Sarandon

Gypsies in America are hidden. With estimates between fifty thousand and more than a million, the Gypsy population is as mysterious as their ways, and misinformation keeps them outside the mainstream. With unprecedented vividness, Lola’s Luck peers behind the curtain to find the authentic story of an extraordinary woman, “expert advisor on love, business and marriage.” Her colorful story reveals how Gypsies live and how they struggle to maintain traditional ways in a modern world.

As a young graduate student in anthropology, Carol Miller predicted a future of scholarly publications. When she began to study the Machvaia (mach wee’ah) Gypsies in Seattle and along the west coast of America, she never expected to be drawn deeply into the culture and befriended by a Queen. Immersed in this riotous world, the American’s heart stood no chance against the passion of a married Gypsy man. Soon, their frenzied and potentially ruinous affair overwhelmed them both. Initially wanting to study ritual and kinship, the scientist ended up studying the heart.

In the end, it is Lola's life, “The story of the world!” that dominates the book. Hand on hip, heart as big as the widest space, a Gypsy, yes, and a Queen.