In the months before the First World War, Richard Herncastle joins his Uncle's illusionist act on the Music Hall stage where he comes into contact with larger than life, garish and outrageous characters. Both funny and sad, Lost Empires tells of a young man's awakening to the world of love and sex, and is also a richly coloured portrait of a dying world of theatre and of lives and a society that the Great War would soon change irrevocably. Received with rave reviews when first published in 1965, this Priestley classic was later made into a major television series starring Colin Firth. Priestley delivers a captivating and authentic snapshot of a fascinating period in theatre history whilst creating a social drama with believable and absorbing characterisation.