Queen Lucia by E. F. Benson (1867 - 1940)

E. F. Benson was born at Wellington College in Berkshire, where his father, who later went on to become the Archbishop of Canterbury, was the first Headmaster. He wrote 105 books in all.

Queen Lucia (first published in 1920) was the first of Benson’s ‘Mapp and Lucia’ novels of which there were six. This first book is a comedy of manners based in the provincial village of Riseholme, where Emmeline Lucas (the Queen Lucia of the title) presides over the social and artistic universe of the gullible residents. Her aide-de-camp in these matters is the somewhat effete Georgie Pillson and the chief competitor for her ‘crown’ is Daisy Quantock. The scandal of the Guru, the psychical goings on with Princess Popoffski and the arrival into the sleepy village of a famous Prima Donna all conspire to threaten her supremacy… (summary by Martin Clifton)

Recent Episodes
  • Chapter 01
    – 00:35:39
  • Chapter 02
    – 00:31:57
  • Chapter 03
    – 00:25:57
  • Chapter 04
    – 00:33:54
  • Chapter 05
    – 00:27:01
  • Chapter 06
    – 00:42:13
  • Chapter 07
    – 00:40:27
  • Chapter 08
    – 00:39:59
  • Chapter 09
    – 00:23:43
  • Chapter 10
    – 00:29:43
  • Chapter 11
    – 00:37:24
  • Chapter 12
    – 00:44:12
  • Chapter 13
    – 00:37:39
  • Chapter 14
    – 00:32:56
  • Chapter 15
    – 00:31:25
  • Chapter 16
    – 00:10:56
Recent Reviews
  • Uncle Yeroshka
    Benson is very funny, and Clifton reads him perfectly.
    Queen Lucia is a good-natured, humorous fabric of friendships, vanities, rivalries, offenses and pardons. Benson’s characters are masterfully carved with his deft, witty narrative. Clifton’s reading is superb.
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