Snow Gypsy

The Snow Gypsy by Lindsay Ashford is an ebook.  I forget why I bought it, but I'm glad I did.  The story hooked me.  It deals with the past.  The major character, Rose, is a veterinarian, who is interested in herbal cures. This interest leads her to gypsies.  She learns a lot from them in England, her own country.  But for a vacation, she thought she would go to Spain to learn more.  Coincidentally, Spain is where her brother Nathan died.  He got entangled in the Spanish troubles and was killed.  His body was never found.

Rose meets gypsies first and travels with them for a while,
especially when she meets a family that comes from the same village where her brother was last living.  Rose becomes friends with a little sweetheart of a girl named "Snow" in Spanish--Nieve.  Nieve's mother is Lola.  Lola is not her biological mother but she saved Nieve when her mother was killed in the same conflict Rose's brother, Nathan, was caught up in.

Lola wants to leave the gypsy life to be in the movies.  She wants more for herself and Nieve than the life of gypsies could offer them.  I learned how discriminated the gypsies were.  The government was taking the gypsies' children away from them because gypsies weren't considered good people.  Gypsies didn't go to school so they couldn't read.  Rose taught Nieve and Lola how to read.

So when Lola is raped and kills her assailant, she is immediately guilty. Rose is left to take care of Nieve.  Rose travels to the village where her brother last lived.  She meets people who knew Nathan.  Rose also falls in love.  Lola is eventually freed due to Rose's letter writing campaign and the three live in the village.  But Lola attracts attention and her father, a crazy fanatic wants to kill her.  Rose's boyfriend kills him.  Now they all have to get out of town.

Even though Rose loves Zoltan, she leaves with Lola and Nieve.  He was really a Nazi criminal and lied to Rose.  He goes to Argentina.  Rose, Lola, and Nieve settle in Madrid.  Rose is pregnant with Zoltan's baby and gives birth to a baby she names after her brother, Nathan.  Lola and Nieve are happy.  Everyone gets what they want.