While writing this book I had to settle on whether to use the word ‘Romani’ or ‘Romany’ when describing my mum’s background. Although ‘Romani’ is now becoming the more accepted modern spelling – and the term adopted by large bodies including the United Nations – the spelling my mum used, and the one I grew up with, was the older variant, ‘Romany’, and for this reason it is the one I have chosen to adopt.