This image is the cover for the book Yellow on the Broom

Yellow on the Broom

This classic memoir of a Scottish woman’s traditional nomadic family offers an intimate glimpse at girlhood in a bygone way of life.

A rare firsthand account of Scotland’s indigenous traveler culture, The Yellow on the Broom has earned its place as a modern classic of Scottish literature. Here, Betsy Whyte vividly recounts the story of her childhood in flowing prose reminiscent of oral storytelling. Through the 1920s and 30s, she and her family spent much of the year traveling from town to town, working odd jobs while maintaining their centuries-old language and a culture.

Whyte’s people were known by many names—mist people, summer walkers, tinkers, and gypsies. As their way of life became increasingly marginalized, they faced greater hardship, suspicion and prejudice. Together with her second memoir, Red Rowans and Wild Honey, Whyte’s story is a thought-provoking account of human strength, courage, and perseverance.

Betsy Whyte

Betsy Whyte was born into a traveller family in 1919 and brought up in the age-old tradition of the 'mist people'--constantly moving around the country and settling down in one place only during the winter. It was while the family were 'housed up' at this time of year that she received her education, attending a number of village schools before winning a scholarship to Brechin High school, where she was the only traveller child. She gave up the traveller life when she married in 1939 and started writing about her childhood in the 1970s.

Birlinn