Identity is at the heart of The Diddakoi. Is there an intrinsic aspect of all of us, forged by background, upbringing and cultural heritage, that is essentially non-negotiable? Part of our personalities so immutable, even from a tender age, than no degree of outside influence can alter it – and neither should it try? The plight of six-year-old Kizzy Lovell, a troubled gypsy girl marooned in a snooty, resolutely middle-class English village, suggests so.
Musty Books: “The Diddakoi” by Rumer Godden (1972) — The Haunted Generation
25 years of hopeful thinking 