Queen Lucia

Written by E. F. Benson

Narrated by Nadia May

England between the wars was a paradise of calm and leisure for the rich. But Emmeline Lucas, known as La Lucia is determined to lead a different life and thus upend the greats of society and her small English town.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blackstone Audio
• Release date: Jan 1, 2006
• ISBN: 9781455101191

E. F. Benson

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.  

Reviews for Queen Lucia

[cbl_tn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Emmeline “Lucia” Lucas is the queen bee in the hive of Riseholme, until opera singer Olga Bracely moves into the village. The wit and sophistication that Lucia works so hard to cultivate come naturally to Olga, and it doesn’t take long for the village drones to shift their loyalty to a new queen. Since Olga is as gracious as she is charming, peace will be restored eventually.The mental picture I formed of Lucia is a lot like Hyacinth Bucket of television’s Keeping Up Appearances. Lucia’s husband, Peppino, is a less reluctant participant in Lucia’s schemes than Richard Bucket is in Hyacinth’s. The neighbors seem to take Lucia’s pretensions at face value until the contrast with Olga Bracely’s real accomplishments makes Lucia’s artificiality obvious. The book is just the right length to be entertaining rather than tedious.

[jbd1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A sendup of "fad culture" and small-town English life. Funny in places, a bit boring in others.

[libbromus · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I share Miss Bracely's opinion of Lucia, "She is an ass." And so it's too bad that she's the main protagonist here. Olga is awfully engaging and Georgie is positively in-the-closet and so charming. I enjoyed the Brahmin from Benares, Foljambe, Georgie's butch sisters and even the Quantocks were more interesting than Lucia. She's ignorant and stuck-up and full of herself. I'd go on with the series if it were more about the secondary and tertiary characters. But that it's Lucia's show, I think I'll stop here.

[stuart10er_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I read this as it was recommended as similar to P.G. Wodehouse. I didn't find it similar except that it was set at a similar time (1910?) and dealt with the travails of the upper middle class. A town is run by a middle aged social tyrant. Slowly the village slips from her iron fist when a famous opera singer comes to live in their town and disrupts all of the power structures. Eventually all is righted and she resumes controls and the opera singer leaves. Sort of interesting but I find the characters irritating rather than engaging. I don't think I will read any more in this series.

[satyridae · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This book, recommended as "just like Wodehouse", turned out to be as much like Wodehouse as the fluid given Arthur Dent when he asked the Nutrimatic Drinks Dispenser for tea. Which is to say- not my cuppa.

[mahallett · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

i remembered the tv show as i listened yo this. very silly but entertaining.

[souloftherose · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In the small English village of Riseholme, Mrs Lucas, more commonly known as Lucia (pronounced the Italian way), rules and the rest of the village follow where she leads. Lucia is a snob and spends most of her time trying to appear more cultured than she actually is, leaving improving books on side tables when friends visit so that she can say she had just put them down, dropping Italian phrases into conversations to give the impression she speaks fluent Italian and stealthily practising her piano duets on her own so she can pretend to be very good at sight reading when she practises with her friend. The rest of the villagers buy into these pretences until a famous opera singer decides to move to Riseholme and upsets the social balance by inadvertently exposing Lucia by hosting better parties and inviting Lucia over to speak Italian to a famous Italian composer. The characters are charming and this short novel was a very enjoyable gentle satire.

[florenceart · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Giving up on this book and I probably won't pick it up again. Not that it's bad, really, but I see enough petty power struggles in real life that I don't feel the need to read about them. The book is funny but not enough for me to keep reading. Plus, I like writers to have a little more sympathy for their characters.

[overthemoon_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Emmeline Lucas, otherwise known as Lucia pronounced the Italian way, reigns supreme over the village of Riseholme until the arrival of Olga, an opera singer, who wins the affections of Lucia's friend Georgie (who spends a lot of his time doing embroidery). I will remember this one as the book with the Guru.

[universehall · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love this book.Perhaps that needs a little background. This book was sent to me by a dear older friend (who has now sadly passed away) when I was a teenager. I started reading it, expecting it to be kind of dull.Well, to be honest, at first I wasn't engrossed. I was about a quarter of the way (or more) into this book before I began to get interested. E.F. Benson is a very wordy writer. He spends a long time dwelling on what people look like and how they do things.But by the time I got through all the descriptions and wordiness, I discovered that those words had been a painter's palate, and my mind the canvas - because suddenly I found that I had marvelously clear and colorful images of all the characters in my mind. I knew how they looked and how they acted, and when the story really began to take shape, I avidly followed it to its conclusion.It's just a simple little story of a handful of people who are essentially the main busy-bodies of a small town in England. Not very engrossing? Think again. By the time you finish reading this book they will be your best friends.Give this book a chance. Wade through the first part, where you're thinking that the descriptions will never end, and wonder when the "real" story will start. By the end, you will be in love - and, like I did, you'll keep coming back for more.

[hansel714_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

W. H. Auden says, "I am a devoted fan." The Desperate Housewives say, "Lucia is our Queen." Gossip Girls say, "Glamorous!"Riselhomme, a small town in Britain is ruled by Lucia, its social "queen". However, her sidekicks, a plump housewife, Daisy Quanstock, and a metrosexual, George, are planning to revolt against Lucia's autocracy. Quanstock enlists the help of an Indian yoga Guru and a mystic Russian Princess Popoff to be the queen bee of the town. George switches his alliance to an opera singer who newly moves into town. Will Lucia lose her throne?This 1920 novel is deliciously campy and humorous. But I have higher expectations of it because of the author's name. E. F. Benson's father was the Archbishop of Canterbury, the highest ranking priest in Church of England and his mother was described by Gladstone, ex-English Prime Minister as "the cleverest woman in Europe" at a time when George Eliot, a polymath, was alive. When Benson's father died in 1896, his mother set up a lesbian household with the daughter of the previous Archbishop of Canterbury. Benson and his two brothers, who also wrote novels, are certainly almost gay. Benson was also a great athlete and represented England at figure skating. He became the Mayor of East Sussex in 1934 and died of throat cancer in 1940. Given Benson's sensational life, I have to say the novel doesn't live up to its name. But this is only the first of his seven Lucia novels and perhaps the rest will be better.

[herschelian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The brilliant, wonderful Lucia at her snobby best.

[thorold_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The first of Benson's Mapp/Lucia stories, published in 1920, is set in the Cotswold village of Riseholme (apparently based on Broadway, Worcestershire), and introduces the characters Emmeline Lucas ('Lucia'), her husband 'Peppino' and her trusted lieutenant, the confirmed bachelor Georgie Pillson, who asks nothing better than to be left alone with his embroidery and his collection of bibelots. The calm of the village is disturbed and Georgie's loyalties are divided when Lucia becomes convinced that new resident Olga Bracely is attempting to usurp her position as leader of Riseholme society.The novel gently mocks the follies and pretensions of the middle-class people who have taken over the village and converted its authentic rural squalor into fake olde worlde charm. It's a very safe, English sort of comedy, in which we know that the very worst thing that can happen to anyone is to be embarrassed. But Benson always engages our sympathy with the characters. While laughing at them, we feel for Georgie when his bald spot is exposed, and share Lucia's anguish when her claims to speak Italian are put to the test.

[starbox_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In the quiet village of Riseholme, the genteel neighbours' lives revolve around gossip, peering out of windows and regular get togethers, presided over by Emmeline Lucas aka 'Lucia'. Charming (mostly) when she reigns as Queen Bee, there are, nonetheless, undercurrents of irritation from the others, especially when she lures away the interesting Indian guru from the woman who 'discovered' him, and when her disciple Georgie starts to relish being first with a piece of news, eclipsing Lucia...This has moments of absolute hilarity. I loved deaf Mrs Antrobus "presenting her (ear) trumpet to him in the manner in which an elephant presents its trunk to receive a bun".Lucia is a total phoney, her 'impromptu' events carefully rehearsed; the Italian she affects to speak with her amenable spouse actually just a few trite phrases. And when an opera singer comes to live in the village, it seems she may have been usurped.Comic novels are a bit like fruit cake- enjoyable now and then. So I shan't be going straight off to read the sequels...I need a bit of seriousness first. But very enjoyable. Read for Stuck in a Book's 1920 Club.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Queen Lucia by E.F. Benson is a tongue in cheek satire aimed at the pretensions of the not quite ‘top-drawer” class. He sets his story in the fictional English village of Riseholm where society and etiquette are dictated by one woman, Emmeline Lucas, better known as Queen Lucia.This book is light and amusing, but subtle it isn’t. The author misses no opportunity to mercilessly poke fun at these people and their desires to an upper class life of wit and elegance. It is when a rival to her throne moves into the village that the story takes off and each page of this character driven comedy will have the reader smiling, giggling or even snorting in delight. I think the essence of this book rings a bell with people as these broadly drawn characters can be found amongst one’s social circle today. Every society must have its’ queen, and every queen must struggle to retain her throne. Queen Lucia is the first in a series of books, and judging by this first one, the rest of the series should prove delightful.

[paradiseporch · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

QUEEN LUCIA** by E.H. Benson (Vintage Fiction, Satire) 3.5 star ratingI’ve heard so many people lately expressing fond memories and revisits to Riseholme, home of Lucia Lucas and her husband, and Lucia’s friend Georgie. This also is social satire—this of small English towns– although more acerbic and over-the-top than Pym’s. Benson’s stories are set in the 1920s but seem timeless, while Pym’s more definitely define the period setting.I don’t have the emotional attachment to these stories that some others do so, while I enjoyed Queen Lucia, I don’t think I’ll be spending time on any of the sequels.Read this if: you read them when you were young – evidently they hold up well with time; or you’d enjoy an “outrageously camp” satire of English village life. 3½ stars

[sanddune_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Mrs Lucas (or Lucia to her friends due to her propensity for peppering her conversation with Italian) is the acknowledged leader of the cultural life of the small English village of Riseholme at the start of the 1920's. It might be, of course, that Lucia is a little bit less well-read that she makes out (could she have looked up her quotations in the Encyclopaedia rather than reading the actual book) and perhaps just a little bit less musical (is it possible that she doesn't play the second  and third parts of the Moonlight Sonata because they are more difficult than the first, rather than because they are less pleasing to the ear as she suggests) but none of her accolytes would ever dare to suggest those things out loud. But after years of Lucia's autocratic rule, the idea of revolution starts to ferment in Riseholme, with two of her long-time friends and disciples, Georgie and Daisy Quantock, getting ideas above their station and rebelling against her rule. First there is the arrival of Daisy Quantock's guru, a real life Brahmin from Benares no less, who she has engaged to teach her yoga, and whom she has no intention of letting Lucia adopt as a novelty for her summer parties. And then there is the arrival of Olga Bracely, a famous opera singer, whose presence threatens to have disastrous consequences for Lucia's status as Queen Bee.Lucia behaves appallingly at times, and the undercurrents of jealosies and resentments behind seemingly tranquil village life are laid bare for all to see, but for all that it is very funny with such a wonderful cast of characters. Georgie, a forty-something bachelor, is completely oblivious to the fact that the whole village knows that the reason he is 'busy indoors' one evening a month is that he is having his hair dyed. Mrs Quantock tries every fad under the sun in quick succcession, with yoga following quickly on the heels of Christian Science, abandoned when it failed to cure her cold. Nothing much happens, but it doesn't really need to, the little events of village life have enough drama to keep everyone entertained.So a really fun read, which I'll be quickly following up with the next in the series.

[etxgardener · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I first read E. F. Benson's Lucia and Mapp novels in the 1980's when I chanced upon a volume of the collected novels in the remaindered section of Barnes and Noble. Since then, there has been a BBC series of the novels, but nothing is as good as the books, and, in this time of Covid and toxic politics, they are a wonderful tonic for what ails you.Queen Lucia is the first novel in the series and introduces us to Mrs. Emmeline Lucas, who with her husband Phillip (Peppino) and her faithful walker, Georgie Pillson ( he's a confirmed bachelor & likes to do needlework - get it?), rules the social life of Riseholme with an iron fist. in a wonderful send-up of provincial English society, Mrs. Lucas has pretensions of being able to speak Italian (hence the Lucia moniker) to have ability to play the piano & to understand art. Her rivals like Daisy Quantock, a former Christian Scientist, who falls into the thrall of a bogus Indian yogi, and the imperious, but stupid Lady Amermere, are not match for Lucia's will of iron. However, when a real opera singer, Olga Bracely, arrives in town, Lucia finds her reign as the Queen of Riseholme society in danger. This book is a delight from start to finish & the perfect antidote to what's happening today.

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I tried to like it, but I really struggled to even finish it. Honestly, other than Olga (who grew on me), I just didn't like any of these characters and I didn't care what happened in their superficial petty little lives.

[leslie398 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4.5 stars

Nadia May does a marvelous narration of this satire of the social maneuvers in English village life during the 1920s. If you like Gaskell's Cranford, you will probably enjoy this.

[roamin1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's war! Strategy! weapons! Armies! Delicious.

[japaul22 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fabulous, just fabulous! Small town life in England in the 1920s - everyone trying to one-up each other. It was funny and has fantastic characters, which was just what a needed right now. Looking forward to the rest of the series.

[mmyoung_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While I have read this book at least once a year for the last two decades I never cease to find some new delight in the writing and with the characters around whom this book focuses. Having arrived once again at the last page I could hardly wait to move on to Miss Mapp.[1] Several chapters into Miss Mapp I put the book down and started to think about the similarities and differences between these two books and the impact of the 1985 British television series or public perceptions of the series, in conjunction with the decision made by the Thomas Y. Cromwell Company to switch the order of the second and third books when it published a compendium of all six of the Mapp and Lucia novels under the title “Make Way for Lucia.”It is difficult to know what constitutes “a spoiler” when discussing a book published 90 years ago and adapted into a television series that aired over two decades ago however I will proceed with caution by beginning with general commentary before proceeding to material that might contain spoilers. I will warn the reader when I am moving from the former to the latter.In Queen Lucia the reading audience is introduced to Emmeline Lucas (the titular Queen) and her circle of friends and acquaintances in the village of Riseholme. Lucia, we learn, was the leading figure in the fairly recent gentrification of Riseholme. Benson does not, of course, use that word to describe the process of wealthy people buying up and refurbishing cottages but his description is quite recognizable. Lucia herself might today be diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder. MedicineNet.com lists symptoms of NPD as: being self-centered and boastful; constantly seeking attention and admiration; considering oneself better than others; exaggerating ones talents and achievements; believing that one is entitled to special treatment; easily hurt although not always showing it; setting unrealistic goals; and taking advantage of others to achieve ones goals.Lucia shows all those symptoms and yet, as Benson writes her, we do not hate her we come to understand her and indeed to feel at least amusement and perhaps even compassion for her in her endless (and futile) need to be the “center of attention” among her social circle in Riseholme. Benson examines with detail and wit the life of the moderately wealthy in England between the wars. No one, or at least no one that really counts, works. Lucia’s husband had amassed “a fortune, comfortable in amount and respectable in origin, at the Bar” after which he put his money into securities and he and wife retired to Riseholme after buying up a number of cottages and extensively modifying them so that they looked impeccably antique from outside while retaining all the pleasures of modernity within. The rest of her social circle live on military pensions and moderate inheritances. They are well off though clearly not, in their own consideration, really wealthy. Mr. Lucas had been a barrister and Colonel Boucher had presumably served in the recent war and the Quantocks’ generosity was dependent, at least in part, on the soundness of “ Roumanian oils.” Of course the servants worked as did the clerks in the stores and musicians who were hired to play at special events but except for the opera singer who comes to live in the town no one else who “matters” works for a living.This is not an England that has remained unchanged by the recent Great War. Lucia and her friends all have maids and valets and cooks but these men and women are treated less like indentured servants they were a decade previously. Times are changing, albeit slowly, and one can see glimmers of the England-that-will-be peeking out from behind the façade of England as it always-has-been.Benson manages to show us both the emptiness and the fullness of the lives of his principals. It is their job to socialize. They must go out to dine and give dinners. They must have something interesting to say and therefore find many a thing to be interesting. Yet at moments one senses that even they have suspicions that their way of life is dying and will not survive many more body blows.Benson could write convincingly and with inside knowledge about the world of the wealthy and aristocrats but he seems to have taken Jane Austen’s advice to heart in the construction of this book, “Three or four families in a country village is the very thing to work on.” We observe each of the families. We come to know some of the individuals very well as we watch them carry on a way of life that is becoming more and more precarious. The changing nature of the economy, immigration and emigration, more education for the “lower classes” and technological changes are making it more difficult and less acceptable for any but the very wealthy and the very poor to live unproductive lives. Those among the very poor would fill their time in an attempt to acquire the bare necessities of life. Those among the very wealthy could fill their time with entertainment often at great expense and provided by others. Members of Lucia’s class and social circle have the necessities of life but cannot afford the great frivolities that distract those at the upper end of the economic scale. And so they must find a way to fill their days with hobbies and entertainments which they invest with great meaning and worth. And occasionally even they seem aware of the threadbare nature of the supports holding up their world.PAST HERE THERE BE SPOILERSHow can one best describe ‘what happens’ in Queen Lucia? Two couples become engaged over the course of the book but neither are numbered among the principals of the story. And, although Olga Bracely and Georgie Pillson plot to bring about the marriage of Colonel Boucher and Mrs. Weston to solve the domestic crisis brought about by the impending marriage of his valet to her maid, the engagement is brought about within the course of a few pages and with few problems. The “Guru” first introduced to Riseholme by Daisy Quantock and then commandeered by Lucia turns out to be a curry chef from a London restaurant who, upon realizing that the truth as to his provenance is about to come out absconds with money and silver pilfered from homes of PIllson, the Lucases and the Quantocks. Yet none of them are willing to report the thefts to the police since they valued the objects he stole far less than the face they would lose if the world came to know that they had “fallen for” the act of an amateur con man. Similarly, the Quantocks after finding out that the “Russian Princess” who conducted séances while staying at their house was a fraud prefer to burn the evidence rather than have people know that they were taken in. One can safely say that none of these things is what the book is about:The book is about Lucia, a woman who misleads herself as much as she misleads the world. As the story opens Lucia is the central and organizing force around whom the society of Riseholme orbits. She is comfortable in power with little concern that anyone among her acquaintances could successfully challenge her. The book is also about Georgie who plays with the idea of loving a woman rather than being a courtier but who retreats from that possibility when it crosses his path. As the story opens he is one of the bodies who orbit Lucia. Indeed in some ways he is the most important of her satellites for her husband has little choice in his role and she need not fret that the gravitational influence of a passing star will wrench him from his appointed place in her heavens. Georgie, on the other hand, is not so securely hers. The book is also about the ever greater exertions this small group of people find necessary to preserve the stagnation in which they wish to live. They are busy with nothings. They dabble with great energy at things which even they do not value greatly. They do not raise children. They do not tend the sick. They do not write books neither do they actually read books. They play piano and they sing but when a real professional singer [Olga Bracely] comes into their midst the fact that their efforts are all glitter rather than gold becomes obvious. The book is also about someone coming to Riseholme from the outside world and, unintentionally stirring up those stagnant waters. Yet even this outsider with the power to break the spell and bring modernity and change to Riseholme chooses to preserve it as it has been for so many years. So, finally, the book is about a group of people working to hold together a way of life that is doomed to pass.[1] In my review of Miss Mapp I will discuss the question as to whether it should be placed as the second or the third book in the Mapp and Lucia series.

[bolero_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Delicious humor in a turn of the century setting in the small English village of Tilling. Lucia and Miss Mapp both vying for social supremacy make for delightful reading. A comedy classic.