Once a Gypsy Aspiring to be a female Spinosa and working in a Brooklyn diner to supplement her scholarships, about a half century ago, dark-eyed, Cassie Connelly’s life plan is abruptly torn apart by the arrival of an official-looking envelope from Twitchell and Twitchell, Ltd., London, England. Its contents wrench her from the safe arms of the loving couple Botts to across the waters to England to a desolate area near the White Cliffs of Dover. Named heir to the estate of Cedric Carleston, a man whose identity is quite unclear, Cassie finds herself caught in a web of people not all of whom are as they seem. In her efforts to search out the true identity of Carleston she comes to learn more about both her own personal history and special powers than she ever might have imagined possible. Filled with turns and twists in which tinkling bells, Tarot cards, an abandoned house, and enigmatic answers carry a young dark-haired beauty out upon the moors and eventually to what will become her true life path, Betty Hampel’s Once a Gypsy, has just the touch of mystery and mysticism to keep the reader compelled to the very last page