Cullen's Celtic Cabaret Books in Order

Cullen's Celtic Cabaret, also known as the Aisling series, is a sweeping historical saga about performers trying to make art and a living against the backdrop of two world wars and Ireland's struggle for independence. At its centre is Peter Cullen, a gifted but poor Dublin actor who refuses to accept the life laid out for him.

In For All The World we meet Peter on the eve of the First World War. May Gallagher, a sheltered middle class girl, sneaks out to the theatre and is captivated by his talent and charisma. When war takes Peter to the trenches of France he falls in with a mix of misfit soldiers who can sing, dance and tell jokes. Together they discover that entertaining their fellow troops can be a way to survive the horror around them, both emotionally and, at times, literally.

After the armistice, the group are determined to turn that makeshift show into a career. A Beautiful Ferocity tracks their rise in 1920s England, playing to packed houses full of audiences eager to forget the recent past. Yet politics has not gone away. Ireland is once again fighting for freedom, and British opinions about the Irish are complicated. A vengeful theatre owner and fierce anti Irish sentiment threaten to undo everything Cullen's Celtic Cabaret has achieved.

In Rivers of Wrath the troupe takes their show on the road in Ireland itself. They arrive in a seaside town hoping for full houses and a cheerful run. Instead they find a community riven by the fight for independence and civil scores being settled under the cover of war. Their presence becomes a lightning rod for resentment, and Peter must decide when to keep his head down and when to take a stand.

The Gem of Ireland's Crown fulfils Peter's long held dream of bringing the cabaret to America. Prohibition era Atlantic City dazzles the company with lights, money and possibility. But behind the glamorous hotels and packed clubs lie dangerous alliances with criminal interests. As the cabaret's fortunes rise, so does the risk that one wrong move could ruin more than just their careers.

Across the series the tone mixes the exhilaration of performance with the grit of backstage life. Audiences see rehearsals in draughty halls, cramped boarding houses and battlefield hospitals as well as glittering stages. The books explore friendship, ambition, class and national identity through characters who live half their lives in greasepaint, and they offer a fresh angle on familiar historical events by focusing on those whose job it was to make people forget their troubles for a few hours.