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The Roma

A Travelling History

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The Roma

By: Madeline Potter
Narrated by: Madeline Potter
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Brought to you by Penguin.

The Roma is a profoundly personal portrait of a people and their on-going journey, shedding new light on their history and what it means to be Romani in Europe today. It is a history that is not widely known and understood, and that invisibility has created a space where fear and hostility continue to thrive.

Full of fascinating stories and extraordinary individuals, The Roma is a powerful corrective to the stereotyping and prejudices still faced by Romani communities. We meet the Romani artist who chronicled her experiences of the Holocaust in Austria; the boxer who should have become Germany’s light-heavyweight champion only to have his win scratched from the record by the Nazis; and a eighteenth-century Romani woman in London who was accused of kidnapping a girl and sentenced to death only to be exonerated thanks to some detective work by an unconvinced judge.

Throughout, Madeline Potter weaves in her travels though contemporary Romani Europe as well as strands of her own journey as a Romani woman in Romania and now in Britain. Deftly blending explorative history and portraits of a unique and vibrant culture with intimate accounts of racism, The Roma is a celebration of survival – of resilience and resistance in the face of prejudice and persecution.

© Madeline Potter 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

 Anthropology Cultural & Regional Europe
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Critic reviews

An exhilarating history of resistance and survival of a people who have refused to be defined by their persecutors
A book that will inspire and inform. Madeline Potter helps us absorb the atmosphere of Romani communities through the stories of prominent Romani individuals as she shares an engaging and illuminating experience that spans different places and times and offers insights into culture and history (Yaron Martas, author of I Met Lucky People: The Story of the Romani Gypsies)
The Roma: A Travelling History is a brilliant and vital exploration that intertwines Madeline Potter’s personal journey with the rich, often overlooked history of the Roma people. Through compelling accounts and vivid narratives, it challenges stereotypes, revealing the Roma’s resilience while rejecting romanticism and fear-based portrayals. As MP Jo Cox said, 'We are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us'—a truth that resonates powerfully throughout this captivating invitation to see the Roma in their full humanity (Professor David Morley, author of Furu)
By turns heartbreaking and hopeful, this book takes us on a journey through centuries of Romani history and culture. Madeline Potter celebrates the resilience and beauty of the Roma, while bearing witness to the trauma of fairly relentless persecution. In the face of modern far-right politics, The Roma feels urgent and necessary (Tabitha Stanmore, author of Cunning Folk)
Epic in scale and ambition, Madeline Potter’s The Roma belongs alongside TR Fehrenbach’s Comanches as an extraordinary history of a misunderstood people. Potter’s lucid prose creates a history that doubles as an utterly compelling personal journey (Lanre Bakare, author of We Were There)
Here, the past speaks to the present. The Roma mingles fireside tales, testimony and sound historical research. This wise and beautiful book has not left my side (Jo Clement, author of Outlandish)
Evocative and intriguing. The Roma lets the reader in on a world which is at once intimate and wide-ranging, magical yet ruggedly realistic. I was moved by Potter's love for her heritage, as well as her rigour in watering her roots. As a tribute to storytelling and as a personal journey alike, this book is to be treasured (Bidisha)
Like the Roma themselves, this book refuses to be bordered by expectation … This is a memoir that redefines what it is to be the Romany-Gypsy Other, as well as being an enchanting history of a people and travel journal too … The Roma offers a bold Romani lens that lyrically preserves our fragmented oral histories [and] invites readers on a journey along the often hidden paths of the Roma (Karen Downs-Barton, author of Minx)
All stars
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Sometimes you read a book that just shakes up your worldview. The Roma is a brilliant blend of history, memoir and academic study. Listening to the author narrate her personal experiences of exclusion were particularly moving. Really engaging 5 ⭐️ read.

Fascinating and captivating

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This books offers an original and captivating insight into Roma history. The narration is wonderful. I learned so much! A highly recommended read for 2025.

Outstanding

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Considering the author has a doctorate, I'm surprised by how lightweight this book is. It consists mainly of stories of the historic mistreatment of the Roma throughout Europe and anecdotal evidence of the anti-Roma bigotry experienced by the author which, dreadful as they are, don't amount to any sort of serious analysis of the history, culture or persecution of the Roma. Nor does the book offer real solutions as to what might be done to end this persecution; least of all what the Roma themselves might do to better integrate into the communities alongside which they reside. This book suffers greatly in comparison to Klaus-Michael Bogdal's book on the subject, which is a more intelligent read and translated into English in the last few years.

As far as the audiobook format itself goes, it was a terrible mistake for the author to narrate her own book. Whilst I understand that she feels emotionally engaged with her work (which as I have said, is often anecdotal) and may have not trusted her material to another narrator, she is a truly terrible reader. Her voice is leaden; monotone, dreary and sanctimonious. After the first few chapters, I stopped listening and finished by just reading the book. There's a reason why the likes of Juliet Stevenson are commissioned to narrate so many titles.

Lacking substance; terrible narration

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It didn’t flow the author jumped around to much and very unclear as to her point that she was making.

Badly written and boring

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