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Lost Empires
By J. B. Priestley
By J. B. PriestleyRead by Colin Mace
Ebook
Published on Sep 29, 2026 | 384 Pages
On the eve of World War I, a young painter is swept into the heady, now-vanished world of England’s traveling theater circuit in this lively coming-of-age novel by one of the twentieth century’s great, underappreciated masters.
England, 1913. Richard Herncastle is a young man who has recently found himself at a loose end, mourning the death of his mother and disillusioned with his office job. When his enigmatic Uncle Nick—an illusionist who takes his craft seriously—offers Richard a position as general assistant for his traveling variety act, it sounds like a fresh start, and an opportunity to stretch his creative wings as an aspiring painter.
As Uncle Nick’s troupe embarks on a grueling but often invigorating tour of England’s theaters and music halls, Richard finds himself immersed in a world of illusion and artifice. The performers he meets—magicians, comedians, dancers, singers, actors—are by turns eccentric, ambitious, cynical, and striving. But underneath the sheen and sparkle of showbusiness, there are darker currents: even as Richard embarks on a doomed affair with a beautiful older actress, Uncle Nick’s company becomes embroiled in a murder investigation.
Lost Empires captures a vibrant era of mass culture and entertainment, one that had already disappeared by the time of the novel’s first publication in 1965. With his hallmark mastery of colorful detail, snappy dialogue, and Dickensian character portraits, J. B. Priestley delivers a rich coming-of-age story, both nostalgic and timeless.
England, 1913. Richard Herncastle is a young man who has recently found himself at a loose end, mourning the death of his mother and disillusioned with his office job. When his enigmatic Uncle Nick—an illusionist who takes his craft seriously—offers Richard a position as general assistant for his traveling variety act, it sounds like a fresh start, and an opportunity to stretch his creative wings as an aspiring painter.
As Uncle Nick’s troupe embarks on a grueling but often invigorating tour of England’s theaters and music halls, Richard finds himself immersed in a world of illusion and artifice. The performers he meets—magicians, comedians, dancers, singers, actors—are by turns eccentric, ambitious, cynical, and striving. But underneath the sheen and sparkle of showbusiness, there are darker currents: even as Richard embarks on a doomed affair with a beautiful older actress, Uncle Nick’s company becomes embroiled in a murder investigation.
Lost Empires captures a vibrant era of mass culture and entertainment, one that had already disappeared by the time of the novel’s first publication in 1965. With his hallmark mastery of colorful detail, snappy dialogue, and Dickensian character portraits, J. B. Priestley delivers a rich coming-of-age story, both nostalgic and timeless.
Author
J. B. Priestley
J. B. Priestley (1894–1984) was a British playwright, critic, and broadcaster. He is known today primarily for his plays, especially An Inspector Calls—still widely performed—but he was also a bestselling novelist, and several of his books were adapted into film. A household name in his time, he was a popular broadcaster for the BBC during World War II, attracting audiences of up to fifteen million listeners; Graham Greene commented that he had become “a leader second only in importance to Mr. Churchill.” Following the war, he was a British delegate to UNESCO and a founding member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and later received one of the highest royal honors, the Order of Merit.
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