Rosepoint Rating: Five Stars

Cullen’s Celtic Cabaret – Book 1

Book Blurb:

Dublin, Ireland and Valencia, Spain 1917.

Peter Cullen has no money and no prospects, but he has talent and the will to succeed. All he needs now is luck.

May Gallagher is determined to make her own way in life, even if it means defying her parents’ plans for her.

Nick Gerrity is ready to turn his back on his past and start anew, but his secrets might just catch up with him.

And Aida Gonzales, destitute and alone, discovers an unexpected lifeline in the midst of the carnage of World War I.

Together, as the war to end all wars wipes out an entire generation, these four young people will take a chance to break free of society’s shackles and forge a new future of glamour, glitter, and greasepaint.

My Review:                                                         

One thing you know you will get from a Jean Grainger book is disparate characters. But even for Ms Grainger, this is quite the departure from her Irish family dramas which have been captivating and compulsive.

These charismatic characters begin in late WWI with the story of Peter—coveting a role in the theater and grabbing the first one available—but that’s a female role–he’ll dress up. It’s a transgression and embarrassment to his volatile father that results in his ejection from the family. No big loss—his Dublin neighborhood is one of poverty and misery.

Well, fine! He’ll enlist in the military!

Next we are introduced to Nick who is one of several sons in a well-to-do family with an unfortunate stutter. He discovers, however, that with his education he can speak in a foreign language or sing a ballad sweet enough to cause tears without the stutter. But his family? Nope.

Fine! He’ll sneak off and enlist in the military!

Peter is easy going, happy go lucky and doesn’t worry about Nick’s stutter when they discover each other in the trenches of France. Then begins the introduction of additional characters from widely different parts of the world including Enzo—an Italian from London, talented Ramon from Spain and later his dance partner Aida, and Two Soups, a Scotsman and comedian.

As serendipity will happen, they manage to meet up in the ugly circumstances of the final stages of war and discover each other’s talents. An impromptu opportunity to perform is just the beginning. They later go on to entertain their own troops and later the wounded in military hospitals.

It was Peter’s girlfriend May who encouraged Peter to pursue his theatrical goals. She has designs on Peter that he isn’t quite her equally enamored. There are other possible romantic liaisons brewing which we’ll have to wait and read about in the next installment of the new series which is showing a strong start.

I love it when the author takes off in a new direction with a strong series promise. These characters are engaging and the theatre background immersive. I’m anxious to see where this is going with that teaser Epilogue included at the end.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts. As always, I’m thoroughly intrigued!

Book Details:

Genre: Historical Irish Fiction, Historical British & Irish Literature, Women’s Historical Fiction
ISBN: ‎ 1914958950
ASIN: B0C94MD3H5
Print Length: 284 pages
Publication Date: August 17, 2023
Source: Author
Title Link(s): For All the World [Amazon-US]
Amazon UK

 

The Author: JEAN GRAINGER – USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR

SELECTED BY BOOKBUB READERS IN TOP 19 OF HISTORICAL FICTION BOOKS.

WINNER OF THE 2016 AUTHOR’S CIRCLE HISTORICAL NOVEL OF EXCELLENCE

Hello and thanks for taking time out to check out my page. If you’re wondering what you’re getting with my books then think of the late great Maeve Binchy but sometimes with a historical twist. I was born in Cork, Ireland in 1971 and I come from a large family of storytellers, so much so that we had to have ‘The Talking Spoon’, only the person holding the spoon could talk!

I have worked as a history lecturer at University, a teacher of English, History and Drama in secondary school, a playwright, and a tour guide of my beloved Ireland. I am married to the lovely Diarmuid and we have four children. We live in a 200 year old stone cottage in Mid-Cork with my family and the world’s smallest dogs, called Scrappy and Scoobi..

My experiences leading groups, mainly from the United States, led me to write my first novel, ‘The Tour’. My observances of the often funny, sometimes sad but always interesting events on tours fascinated me. People really did confide the most extraordinary things, the safety of strangers I suppose. It’s a fictional story set on a tour bus but many of the characters are based on people I met over the years.

[truncated—please see her full bio on her Amazon author page]

Many of the people who have reviewed my books have said that you get to know the characters and really become attached to them, that’s wonderful for me to hear because that’s how I feel about them too. I grew up on Maeve Binchy and Deirdre Purcell and I aspired to being like them. If you buy one of my books I’m very grateful and I really hope you enjoy it. If you do, or even if you don’t, please take the time to post a review. Writing is a source of constant contentment to me and I am so fortunate to have the time and the inclination to do it, but to read a review written by a reader really does make my day.

©2023 V Williams