Queen Lucia

Written by E.F. Benson

Narrated by Martin Clifton

“Queen Lucia” (1920) is the first volume of E. F. Benson’s “Mapp and Lucia” 6-novel series. It is a comedy of manners, set in provincial Riseholme (Lincolnshire). Emmeline Lucas rules local society with the help of her friend Georgie Pillson, a position she fiercely protects from her rival Daisy Quantock. But this very situation is at risk, as a scandal breaks out and a famous Prima Donna arrives in the sleepy old hamlet.

Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) was a British archeologist and author, who wrote under the pen name E. F. Benson. Originally from Berkshire, he studied at Cambridge University and published his first novel “Dodo” in 1893. It was an instant success. He was a prolific novelist, and wrote in a blend of satire, science-fiction, supernatural and romantic melodramas, and has been admired by later authors such as H. P. Lovecraft. He was also a reputed memoirist, and wrote amongst others a biography of Charlotte Brontë. Benson was a very discreet character but it is widely assumed that he was homosexual, of which traces can be found in the circles he kept as well as in his fiction. He never married and passed away in 1940 at age 72.

• Language: English
• Publisher: SAGA Egmont
• Release date: Nov 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9788726472363

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.