Queen Lucia

by E. F. Benson

Overview

Small-town rivals engage in a ruthless battle of wits in the first novel of this beloved satirical series about the Edwardian upper class.

The small English village of Riseholme may only have one street, but it contains many paths for the committed social climber. In this this eccentric enclave of the idle rich, Emmeline Lucas—known as Lucia—is the reigning social queen. And together with her husband Peppino and her best friend Georgie, she is determined to protect her crown from her neighbor and rival, the fad-chasing Daisy Quantock.

But when Daisy discovers the latest sensation—Indian mysticism—Lucia must find a way to capture the interest of a mysterious guru who has all of Riseholme under his spell. As petty gossip turns to vicious scheming, Riseholme will witness a charm offensive like they’ve never seen in this timeless comedy of manners.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781504083492
Publisher:	Open Road Media
Publication date:	05/02/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	309
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

E. F. Benson (1867–1940) was an English biographer, memoirist, short story writer, archaeologist, and foremost, a novelist. Born at Wellington College in Berkshire to the father of an Archbishop of Canterbury, Benson was surrounded by brilliant and artistic brothers and sisters. He produced many novels and scholarly histories throughout his literary career. He was a gifted writer, and published his first book while he was still a student.

Edward Frederic Benson (1867–1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist, and short story writer. Benson was the son of the Archbishop of Canterbury and member of a distinguished and eccentric family. After attending Marlborough and King’s College, Cambridge, where he studied classics and archaeology, he worked at the British School of Archaeology in Athens. A great humorist, he achieved success at an early age with his first novel, Dodo(1893). Benson was a prolific author, writing over one hundred books including serious novels, ghost stories, plays, and biographies. But he is best remembered for his Lucia and Mapp comedies written between 1920 and 1939 and other comic novels such as Paying Guests and Mrs Ames. Benson served as mayor of Rye, the Sussex town that provided the model for his fictional Tilling, from 1934 to 1937.
 

Editorial Reviews

There is some irony in the fact that Benson, the creator of everything from plays to sober biographies, is best remembered for his series of "Lucia" novels, delicious satires of the pretensions and foibles of provincial middle-class life in Britain in the 1920s and '30s. Still, given Benson's droll send-ups of the bitter battles waged by matrons desperate to live out their fantastical versions of upper-class elegance and wit, and his shrewd readings of the ways in which our longings can make us both bizarre and sometimes appealing, it's very likely an irony he would have savored. His six novels chronicling the rise and fall and rise ad infinitum of Mrs. Emmeline Lucas of Riseholm are now being reissued as trade paperbacks. Queen Lucia, the first in the series, follows Mrs. Lucas ('Lucia' to her most intimate friends) through a lengthy and often hilarious campaign to derail the career of a would-be rival to the throne of cultural arbiter. The plot, however, is less important than the pratfalls. The six Lucia novels form a kind of epic portrait of striving gone mod, and it's good to have them appearing once again.

Kirkus Reviews

An altogether satisfying entertainment; full of humorous situations, sparkling with wholesome wit.”

Times Literary Supplement (London)

These fingers have written many accolades about the voice and interpretations of Nadia May, but they are tingling with pleasure at her rendition of E. F. Benson’s characters in the English town of Riseholme…Such fun does Nadia May have with the stylized characters that the listener actually lives there and is part of the silly rituals of the ’30s…Her delight in reading this novel is directly transmitted to the lucky listener.”

AudioFile

[The narrator’s] British accent and richly condescending tone are just right for Queen Lucia…She breathes the personality of the wealthy Lucia into each sentence.”

Media Inc.