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Notes on Victoria

Victoria has learned what became of her mother, that she was revered among her people, and she is unimpressed. Her life has been disrupted, haphazard and devoid of security due to her mother's fighting for Romani rights. The man she loves is also a political activist and is recovering from an attempted assassination. All she has ever wanted is stability.

She must let go of her preconceptions, learn to live on the edge and accept the discomforts of life. She must make her own life, not expect to fall into a comfortable shell.

The thing that bothers her most is the idea of a nomadic life with the Romani. Something key occurs that requires Raclaw to leave his home indefinitely and go into hiding. Victoria follows him in order to take care of his niece. She lives with him in a cave.

In her life in Raclaw's household, Victoria has encountered a number of characters. At the beginning she was frightened of even the grocery boy Arsenije. Despite the language barrier she makes friends, developing a close friendship with Faustina, the daughter of a Romanian politician, a man her employer Raclaw plots to overcome.

Faustina and her older sister are tutored by Johann, a German intellectual who is developing a romantic relationship with the older aristocratic girl, though he is poor and his ideas far too liberal for her father's liking.

Johann is a casual and frequent visitor to Raclaw's home, Victoria soon learns, and he includes Victoria in their philosophical discussions, which touches her. She and Raclaw disagree on a number of points. Raclaw is too decentralized for her liking. She prefers the structure of the Romanian lifestyle, the comfort of money and political accord.

Raclaw knows well that Victoria is the daughter of a powerful Romani revolutionary but does not share this information with her. A crippled beggar, who is truly Raclaw's father, plagues her when she visits the village, feeding her this information bit by bit.

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