In the fall of 2019, reporter Faith E. Pinho received a tip from Paulina Stevens. Paulina said she had grown up in an insular Romani community in California, where she was raised to be a wife, mother and fortuneteller — until she decided to break away. This opens the door to a story spanning multiple continents, hundreds of years and complex, even metaphysical, realities.

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Dive deeper: Our Romani cultural consultant's op-ed describing how her heritage fits into her own life.