A gypsy against her will : $b or, Worth her weight in gold

"A Gypsy Against Her Will: or, Worth Her Weight in Gold" by Emma Leslie is a novel written in the late 19th century. The story revolves around Lizzie, a young girl who struggles against the confines of her domestic service and longs for a life away from servitude. The novel explores themes of freedom, identity, and the consequences of rash decisions as Lizzie's desire for independence leads her into the clutches of a dubious fortune-teller and a traveling show. At the start of the novel, we meet Lizzie, who expresses her frustration about working as a servant and her desire to return home to help her mother with laundry. After a tense argument with her mother about her dissatisfaction with her current life, Lizzie goes out to meet a friend but encounters Mrs. Stanley, a fortune-teller from a nearby fair. Intrigued by the prospect of a more exciting life, Lizzie is drawn into a world of deception that promises her freedom but instead leads her to a dark fate as she becomes ensnared in Mrs. Stanley's manipulations. As the narrative unfolds, Lizzie’s initial hope and excitement rapidly transform into regret, with her yearning for a different existence turning into a grim reality. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Emma Leslie was the pseudonym of Emma Boultwood (1838–1909), an English writer of children's books and historical fiction. She wrote more than one hundred books.