Stolen from gypsies

the long version

"We are in the early 19th century: the era of the Napoleonic Wars - the backdrop for the works of Jane Austen and Patrick O'Brian. The narrator of Stolen From Gypsies is no dashing Mr. Darcy or heroic sea captain, however. Instead, he is the comical Ambrogio Smythe, a hypochondriacal British nobleman who is "rich as a Fugger" (see the witty, helpful and edifying glossary).". "Obsessed by childhood memories of Gypsies, the frail but determined Ambrogio leaves his ancestral estate in Warwickshire and makes his way to Italy during the Peace of Amiens, always aware of the lurking menace of the hated Napoleon Bonaparte.". "When the war between France and England begins again in earnest, Ambrogio finds himself "happily marooned in Tuscany." Here, he meets a wandering storyteller who spins him a magical yarn about a Gypsy babe kidnapped by a demon. Ambrogio buys a shred of parchment as evidence, and begins to write his own florid version of the saga, vowing one day to publish it in the finest morocco leather."--BOOK JACKET.