One summer. One chance. Memories to last a lifetime.
Eighteen-year-old Terry McFadden is all skilled up with nowhere to go,
Despite his academic achievements, his struggles with acute shyness had him on the brink of adulthood, staring into an uncertain future.
His only escape? Performing on stage and the ballroom dance floor-where, for a fleeting moment, he could be someone else.
Sadly, that talent won't get him a job. Especially in 1980's Greenock.
But an unexpected opportunity lands him a role as a Butlins Redcoat at the famous holiday camp in Ayr.
Under the watchful eye of egomaniac Entertainments Manager Ron De Vere, Terry is thrown into a whirlwind life that only Butlins Holiday Camps can offer: a world full of colour, performances, pranks, and larger-than-life personalities.
As the summer unfolds, he not only discovers the confidence he never thought possible-he also finds love for the first time.
What Time Does Midnight Cabaret Start? is a nostalgic, coming-of-age love story set against the backdrop of Butlins Ayr in the early 1980s, the latter days of the iconic "Hi-De Hi" era.
Written by former Redcoat Frank McGroarty, this novel blends romantic fiction with historical fact, taking readers back to the golden days of a much missed part of the Butlins Holiday Empire.