The Gypsy Man [Hardcover]

Robert Bausch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 14, 2002

The motto of Crawford, Virginia, might well be Beware what you fear, because it may come true. Penny Bone is terrified of the town's local legend of a child-stealing phantom. Henry Gault, her six-year-old daughter's teacher, scoffs at the tale, trusting in reason and foresight to safeguard what is most precious to him.
Penny's husband, John, is in prison for an accidental murder that happened because he was trying to be too careful. And in prison he will, almost accidentally, become a hero, which makes him prey to what he fears most--hope.
An eerie succession of events will take these people into the bull's-eye of risk that everyday life presents. While the Gypsy Man may be just one of Crawford's myths, John and Penny Bone are as real as the rising sun, and their strength, separately and together, reminds us why life is worth living. The Gypsy Man, and its durable and enduring characters, illuminates how an elusive truth lives behind every legend.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A small Virginia mountain community in the late 1950s is thesetting for this vivid and heartrending tale of dreadful accidents,fear, guilt, heroism and redemption by the author of A Hole in theEarth. At its center is a couple, John and Penny Bone, with acherished small daughter, Tory. John goes to jail for 20 years for theaccidental killing of a young black girl. Meanwhile, another blackchild, Terry Landon, has disappeared, and an old legend about a gypsyman who steals small children-the deranged scion of a family onceprominent on the mountain-returns to haunt the minds of the locals. Injail, John does something heroic to save one of the warders, and hopebegins to flicker that he may get an early release. At the same time,a fellow inmate, P.J. "Peach" Middleton, a psychopathic killer,escapes and latches on to Penny's man-hungry Aunt Clare. This sets thestage for a denouement of hair-raising tension in which Penny has tofight for Tory's life, and the mystery of little Terry Landon'sdisappearance turns out to involve two surprising culprits. Bauschkeeps his complex but utterly absorbing tale moving with a cleverlyinterwoven series of narrative voices, including that of the hideousPeach himself-one of the most chilling villains in recent fiction-andit is not until the closing chapters that the whole structure becomesa little too neatly contrived, with clues planted earlier brought outlike triumphant trump cards. This does not diminish the impact of athrilling read, however, in which the poetry of character is moreimportant than the rather plot-heavy action.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In this striking novel of 13 alternating narrators, Bausch (A Hole in the Earth) illustrates the consequences of unintended actions, the power of love, and the use of myth to avoid truth. It's 1959 in the mountaintop town of Crawford, VA, and people are still reeling from the disappearance of a black boy, Terry Landon, and the accidental murder of a black girl by John Bone six years earlier. Penny Bone, who thinks of her husband as dead during his 20-year jail term at his insistence, fears for the safety of her daughter when an old neighbor notices signs of the return of the Gypsy Man, a feared local legend believed to kill children. Meanwhile, a dangerous escaped prisoner lures Penny's Aunt Clare, whose weakness for booze and men grows as she reaches middle age, and John's heroism in prison leads to disappointment. A few of the narrators primarily serve to advance the story, but all come alive and add richness and depth with their differences in age, gender, race, and background, as suspense builds and events come to a just and satisfying close. An exceptional novel, this is recommended for all fiction collections. Michele Leber, Fairfax Cty. P.L., VA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 1st edition (October 14, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0151001723
• ISBN-13: 978-0151001729
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,543,591 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another triumph for Bausch, October 29, 2002

By 

Debbie Lee Wesselmann (the Lehigh Valley, PA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Gypsy Man (Hardcover)

Kudos to Robert Bausch for another fine novel following his strong selling A HOLE IN THE EARTH. THE GYPSY MAN is astoundingly different: a literary thriller set in the 1950's. Told from multiple - one might even say numerous - points-of-view, the novel constructs life in the Virginia mountains in a small mill town called Crawford. Legend has it that the woods around Crawford are frequented by a disfigured man nicknamed the Gypsy Man who steals small children and sets fires. The last time he struck, a black boy named Terry Landon disappeared; six years later the town is still grieving. When old Morgan Tiller finds signs that the Gypsy Man has returned, the person who worries most is Penny Bone, a woman with a six year old daughter and a husband in prison. Her Aunt Clare is missing, and she is convinced that this is the work of the Gypsy Man. From this auspicious start, the tension only increases as the reader begins the see the impending danger to all.

The plot is complicated, and giving away anymore of it might spoil the enjoyment of a riveting read. Bausch's use of many voices - from John Bone in prison for manslaughter, to Gault the town's teacher and lawyer, to Aunt Clare, to the volatile escaped convict Peach, to name only a small fraction - reveals the truth in pieces, even if the characters themselves cannot see it. Penny is the spiritual center of the novel since she has both the most to lose and the most to gain, but even she cannot rightfully be called the protagonist. THE GYPSY MAN is a mosaic that can only be seen clearly at a distance and with all the pieces in place.

THE GYPSY MAN is not a flawless book. Some of the exchanges go on for too long, with little or no information conveyed. Bausch's insistence on using first person narration for all sections often leads to confusion, especially after a lengthy passage when the reader has had a chance to identify the "I" with a particular character. Despite these lapses, you won't want to miss the thrill of reading this novel. The storytelling is superb, the characterizations wonderful, and the prose well-written. What more could you want?

I highly recommend this book for anyone who reads fiction. Bausch fans will want to snap this up right away, to be among the first to read it. Newcomers won't regret their introduction to this gifted novelist.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wow - Oprah never steers you wrong!, October 30, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Gypsy Man (Hardcover)

I loved this book. I'd classify it as "spooky literature", it was a great story well told. Bausch loves his characters and it shines through on every page. I finished it a week ago and I'm still thinking about it!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Gypsy Man, February 22, 2003

By 

P. Sansbury (Florence, SC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gypsy Man (Hardcover)

Robert Bausch has created vivid three dimentional characters caught in their own lives. The Gypsy Man is not based on a gypsy from Romany, but on the collected beliefs of an entire community. This is a heck of a read.... Gypsy Man far surpasses any of Bausch's previous works. This book is intriguing in its plot twists, its development of distinctive but believable characters, and the style of writing. This book is for readers who want to read a novel for plain entertainment or for those looking for a real piece of literature. He is an author to keep an eye on. I can hardly wait for Bob Bausch's next book!