Jakob's Colours

Inspired by the lost voices of the Romany Holocaust this heartbreaking and tender novel will appeal to readers who loved Sophie's Choice, Schindler's Ark and The Book Thief.

Austria, 1944. Jakob, a gypsy boy - half Roma, half Yenish - runs, as he has been told to do. With shoes of sack cloth, still bloodstained with another's blood, a stone clutched in one hand, a small wooden box in the other. He runs blindly, full of fear, empty of hope. For hope lies behind him in a green field with a tree that stands shaped like a Y.

He knows how to read the land, the sky. When to seek shelter, when not. He has grown up directing himself with the wind and the shadows. They are familiar to him. It is the loneliness that is not. He has never, until this time, been so alone.

'Don't be afraid, Jakob,' his father has told him, his voice weak and wavering. 'See the colours, my boy,' he has whispered. So he does. Rusted ochre from a mossy bough. Steely white from the sap of the youngest tree. On and on, Jakob runs.

Spanning from one world war to another, taking us across England, Switzerland and Austria, Jakob's Colours is about the painful legacies passed down from one generation to another, finding hope where there is no hope and colour where there is no colour.

Short-listed for Authors' Club Best First Novel Award 2016

“I thought it was a remarkable book - brave, big-hearted, and beautifully written . Harrowing too, of course, at times almost unbearably so, but Lindsay Hawdon meets the material with such honesty and courage we, as readers, can stay with it without feeling crushed by it. It's a first novel that clearly announces the arrival of a very talented writer. - Andrew Miller, author of Costa award-winning PURE A memorable debut ...There is a theme here that fits the complicated structure, about the stories we tell to spin hope from despair. The prose is poetic and on occasion luminously beautiful ... a powerful story . - The TimesThe book's fairy tale tone, and its themes of hope and beauty are matched by Hawdon's poetic language . - Independent A deeply involving tale , hazardous and harrowing, Hawdon has a fine eye for detail in description... [her] feel for the subject matter is instinctive ... a well realised and unquestionably admirable enterprise. ... she'll go far. - Guardian She writes with raw power . This book demands to be read. - John Humphrys Tackling the story of the lesser-known Gypsy Holocaust, Hawdon writes powerfully and sensitively about individuals deriving courage from what the can empathise with, during a terrible time. - The Lady Lindsay Hawdon certainly didn't pick an easy subject, but by heck it's an important one, and she's more than done it justice with this mesmerising and moving tale. A bewitchingly beautiful and utterly captivating story , which shows that hope exists even in the very darkest of places. - Heat Lindsay Hawdon's novel will crack your heart open - Sunday Express”

I thought it was a remarkable book - brave, big-hearted, and beautifully written. Harrowing too, of course, at times almost unbearably so, but Lindsay Hawdon meets the material with such honesty and courage we, as readers, can stay with it without feeling crushed by it. It's a first novel that clearly announces the arrival of a very talented writer. - Andrew Miller, author of Costa award-winning PURE

A memorable debut ...There is a theme here that fits the complicated structure, about the stories we tell to spin hope from despair. The prose is poetic and on occasion luminously beautiful ... a powerful story. - The Times

The book's fairy tale tone, and its themes of hope and beauty are matched by Hawdon's poetic language. - Independent

A deeply involving tale, hazardous and harrowing, Hawdon has a fine eye for detail in description... [her] feel for the subject matter is instinctive ... a well realised and unquestionably admirable enterprise. ... she'll go far. - Guardian

She writes with raw power. This book demands to be read. - John Humphrys

Tackling the story of the lesser-known Gypsy Holocaust, Hawdon writes powerfully and sensitively about individuals deriving courage from what the can empathise with, during a terrible time. - The Lady

Lindsay Hawdon certainly didn't pick an easy subject, but by heck it's an important one, and she's more than done it justice with this mesmerising and moving tale. A bewitchingly beautiful and utterly captivating story, which shows that hope exists even in the very darkest of places. - Heat

Lindsay Hawdon's novel will crack your heart open - Sunday Express

Lindsay Hawdon is a writer of travel, adventure and fiction. On leaving school, she spent three years travelling around Europe, Africa and India, hitching rides and sleeping under canvas. She has since travelled to over sixty countries and writes regularly for The Sunday Times, The Sunday Telegraph, the Australian and the LA Times. Her travel column 'An Englishwoman Abroad' ran in the Sunday Telegraph in 2000 and ran for seven years. Her articles for the Sunday Times called 'Have Kids Will Travel' followed a year's trip travelling solo with her two young boys around South East Asia. She lives in Bath with her family.

'A bewitchingly beautiful and utterly captivating story' Independent on Sunday Austria, 1944. Jakob, a gypsy boy - half Roma, half Yenish - runs, as he has been told to do. With shoes of sackcloth, still stained with another's blood, a stone clutched in one hand, a small wooden box in the other. He runs blindly, full of fear, empty of hope. 'Don't be afraid, Jakob,' his father has told him. 'See the colours, my boy,' he has whispered. So he does. Rusted ochre from a mossy bough. Steely white from the sap of the youngest tree. On and on, Jakob runs. Spanning from one world war to another, taking us across England, Switzerland and Austria, this powerful first novel is drawn from a little-known piece of history: the Porrajmos , or Gypsy Holocaust. And through it all is woven the brightness of hope, the strength of the human spirit, the colours that make life worth living. 'A memorable debut... luminously beautiful... a powerful story' The Times 'Deeply involving... [Hawdon] will go far' Guardian 'This book demands to be read' John Humphrys @lindsayhawdon

Inspired by the lost voices of the Romany Holocaust this heartbreaking and tender novel will appeal to readers who loved Sophie's Choice , Schindler's Ark and The Book Thief . Austria, 1944. Jakob, a gypsy boy - half Roma, half Yenish - runs, as he has been told to do. With shoes of sack cloth, still bloodstained with another's blood, a stone clutched in one hand, a small wooden box in the other. He runs blindly, full of fear, empty of hope. For hope lies behind him in a green field with a tree that stands shaped like a Y. He knows how to read the land, the sky. When to seek shelter, when not. He has grown up directing himself with the wind and the shadows. They are familiar to him. It is the loneliness that is not. He has never, until this time, been so alone.'Don't be afraid, Jakob,' his father has told him, his voice weak and wavering. 'See the colours, my boy,' he has whispered. So he does. Rusted ochre from a mossy bough. Steely white from the sap of the youngest tree. On and on, Jakob runs.Spanning from one world war to another, taking us across England, Switzerland and Austria, Jakob's Colours is about the painful legacies passed down from one generation to another, finding hope where there is no hope and colour where there is no colour.

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