I loved The Outside Boy by Jeanne Cummins. This is a wonderful novel about Irish Travellers or Pavees, often referred to as Tinkers.  The book is about their nomadic culture that is rapidly coming to an end in Ireland. These are people who have lived this way for centuries, but are now on the fringes of society and looked down upon by settled “buffers.”

The story is told by 11 year old Christy, a Pavee gypsy roaming with his father and aunt and grandparents from town to town, never settling for long in any one place. Christy is intelligent and curious, wildly free and enormously likeable. I wanted to be out on the open road in Ireland with him. I even started questioning living confined within four walls of a house all the time.

It is a search to discover who you are and where your place in the world is. An age old story, but refreshing and new in Jeanne Cummins deft hands. It is so beautifully written, it honors the long history of Irish storytelling. I loved every minute of this book. I didn’t want it to end.