Queen Lucia

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)

Genre(s): Published 1900 onward

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 Chapter 01 Martin Clifton
00:35:39
Play 02 Chapter 02 Martin Clifton
00:31:57
Play 03 Chapter 03 Martin Clifton
00:25:57
Play 04 Chapter 04 Martin Clifton
00:33:54
Play 05 Chapter 05 Martin Clifton
00:27:01
Play 06 Chapter 06 Martin Clifton
00:42:13
Play 07 Chapter 07 Martin Clifton
00:40:27
Play 08 Chapter 08 Martin Clifton
00:39:59
Play 09 Chapter 09 Martin Clifton
00:23:43
Play 10 Chapter 10 Martin Clifton
00:29:43
Play 11 Chapter 11 Martin Clifton
00:37:24
Play 12 Chapter 12 Martin Clifton
00:44:12
Play 13 Chapter 13 Martin Clifton
00:37:39
Play 14 Chapter 14 Martin Clifton
00:32:56
Play 15 Chapter 15 Martin Clifton
00:31:25
Play 16 Chapter 16 Martin Clifton
00:10:56