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Reviewed by Jennifer Senick for Readers' Favorite
Some dreams are harder to reach when others have already chosen your future. In The Last Gypsy Queen by Linda Paul, ninety-year-old Marisol Mazaria returns to Buckeye Lake, Ohio, where memories of her youth begin to surface. More than seventy years earlier, she’s a young Romani woman with aspirations beyond what's expected of her. She wants to become a doctor, despite traditions that limit women’s education and choices. Marisol, her mother, younger sister, and Gran Rose are struggling to survive. They return to Buckeye Lake Amusement Park, where fortune-telling becomes a way to earn money. While there, she gets help from Lila, who encourages her to continue her studies. She also meets Will Worthington, a 20-year-old from a wealthy Columbus family who has his own decisions to make as World War II changes everything around him. Marisol and Will are immediately drawn to each other, even though plenty stands in their way. What does their future hold? And can love overcome everything trying to keep them apart?
The cover of The Last Gypsy Queen by Linda Paul caught my attention immediately. The romance pulled me in, but the characters and their backstories made it so much more than a love story. Marisol, Will, and Lila were my three favorites, although it’s difficult to choose because no one felt irrelevant. Everyone had a reason for being there, and their individual experiences added something to the novel. I also learned a lot about Romani life, traditions, prejudice, and the restrictions women faced. The writing was well developed, especially the characters and setting. Paul clearly did a great deal of research, but the period details never made the book feel like a history lesson. The pacing worked well, too, even with so many characters and challenges to keep track of. Eleanor Roosevelt said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” That quote kept coming to mind as I read about Marisol and watched her refuse to let others determine her worth. Anyone who enjoys historical fiction with romance, strong characters, and a book that teaches them something along the way should pick this one up.
