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Mapp & Lucia #1
Queen Lucia
“The hours of the morning between breakfast and lunch were the time which the inhabitants of Riseholme chiefly devoted to spying on each other.” ― E.F. Benson, Queen Lucia
E.F. Benson's Queen Lucia is a delightful and humorous novel about upper-middle-class British people in the 1920s and 1930s, set in the seaside town of Tilling.
165 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1920
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5927 people want to read
About the author
E.F. Benson
1,027 books353 followersEdward Frederic "E. F." Benson was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist and short story writer.
E. F. Benson was the younger brother of A.C. Benson, who wrote the words to "Land of Hope and Glory", Robert Hugh Benson, author of several novels and Roman Catholic apologetic works, and Margaret Benson, an author and amateur Egyptologist.
Benson died during 1940 of throat cancer at the University College Hospital, London. He is buried in the cemetery at Rye, East Sussex.
Last paragraph from Wikipedia
E. F. Benson was the younger brother of A.C. Benson, who wrote the words to "Land of Hope and Glory", Robert Hugh Benson, author of several novels and Roman Catholic apologetic works, and Margaret Benson, an author and amateur Egyptologist.
Benson died during 1940 of throat cancer at the University College Hospital, London. He is buried in the cemetery at Rye, East Sussex.
Last paragraph from Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 647 reviews
January 16, 2019
Darlings, you simply must visit Riseholme. It's just the most precious 1920s English village that you ever could see. Delightful! Decadent! Devious! Demented! Delicious!
Riseholme is ruled by its very own doyenne of style and taste and class, one Emmeline Lucia Lucas. She utterly commands the village, an ever-benevolent dictator over all things that truly matter. Her right-hand "man" is Georgie, a bachelor of means and of a certain age, a faithful lieutenant whose extensive time spent in Lucia's home creates absolutely no tension whatsoever with Lucia's husband. Precious Georgie! With his embroidery and his watercolors and his lovely color-coordinated outfits and his cape - yes darlings, his cape! - and of course his monthly battles with hair-loss and graying. Fortunately he engages the services of hair dye and the comb-over, but shhh! We shall not speak of such things! Let us instead speak of more important matters, in quaint baby-talk or made-up "Italian" - much as Georgie and Lucia and her husband Peppino often converse!
Some say the village of Riseholme worships social climbing and the highly irrelevant minutiae of Who Said What And To Whom And Oh No They Didn't Oh Yes They Did... and I say, worship away! We all have our own altars!
Some say the village of Riseholme worships whatever the latest fad may be - an Indian Guru promising peaceful meditation one day, a Psychic Russian "Princess" promising drama with the dearly departed another day, a pill promising increased height on the third day... and I say, what is Life without Adventure! Even in charming Riseholme, one simply must have adventure! And garden parties! And champagne!
But darlings, what is that on the horizon? Could it be... Revolution? Revelation! Perhaps it is time to dethrone Queen Lucia! Olga Bracely, that splendid opera singer hailing from Londontown, has arrived! She brings with her jolly "romps" and match-making and a complete lack of interest in social climbing and snobbery. She is a Real Celebrity, quite unlike that "Queen" Lucia. And whatever else could she bring? Could it be - no, we mustn't speculate - yes, we simply MUST - could she be bringing love into sweet Georgie's life? Is it possible that Georgie is falling in love... with a woman? Scandalous!
Some may say that the pointed comic novel Queen Lucia is pure trifle, a dessert item, even a luxury when compared to more studied Classics of English Literature. Well I say we must make such Luxuries our Necessities! If something so spiky, so satirical, so scintillatingly silly could even be considered a "luxury". Such things are the Sugar and Spice of Life! And All That Is Nice!
Darlings, your really must read it. It is simply Divine!
Riseholme is ruled by its very own doyenne of style and taste and class, one Emmeline Lucia Lucas. She utterly commands the village, an ever-benevolent dictator over all things that truly matter. Her right-hand "man" is Georgie, a bachelor of means and of a certain age, a faithful lieutenant whose extensive time spent in Lucia's home creates absolutely no tension whatsoever with Lucia's husband. Precious Georgie! With his embroidery and his watercolors and his lovely color-coordinated outfits and his cape - yes darlings, his cape! - and of course his monthly battles with hair-loss and graying. Fortunately he engages the services of hair dye and the comb-over, but shhh! We shall not speak of such things! Let us instead speak of more important matters, in quaint baby-talk or made-up "Italian" - much as Georgie and Lucia and her husband Peppino often converse!
Some say the village of Riseholme worships social climbing and the highly irrelevant minutiae of Who Said What And To Whom And Oh No They Didn't Oh Yes They Did... and I say, worship away! We all have our own altars!
Some say the village of Riseholme worships whatever the latest fad may be - an Indian Guru promising peaceful meditation one day, a Psychic Russian "Princess" promising drama with the dearly departed another day, a pill promising increased height on the third day... and I say, what is Life without Adventure! Even in charming Riseholme, one simply must have adventure! And garden parties! And champagne!
But darlings, what is that on the horizon? Could it be... Revolution? Revelation! Perhaps it is time to dethrone Queen Lucia! Olga Bracely, that splendid opera singer hailing from Londontown, has arrived! She brings with her jolly "romps" and match-making and a complete lack of interest in social climbing and snobbery. She is a Real Celebrity, quite unlike that "Queen" Lucia. And whatever else could she bring? Could it be - no, we mustn't speculate - yes, we simply MUST - could she be bringing love into sweet Georgie's life? Is it possible that Georgie is falling in love... with a woman? Scandalous!
Some may say that the pointed comic novel Queen Lucia is pure trifle, a dessert item, even a luxury when compared to more studied Classics of English Literature. Well I say we must make such Luxuries our Necessities! If something so spiky, so satirical, so scintillatingly silly could even be considered a "luxury". Such things are the Sugar and Spice of Life! And All That Is Nice!
Darlings, your really must read it. It is simply Divine!
April 21, 2011
This book is my cure for the doldrums -- a comic masterpiece. Granted, it helps to be an anglophile and a bit of a misanthrope to boot, but the antics of the villagers of Riseholme, led (or dominated) by the immortal Lucia always make me realize just how absurdly delicious life can be.
Once a Luciaphile, always a Luciaphile. It's a select but oddly inclusive group, I've found over the years. Most of my closest friends are Benson devotees. And those folks who aren't? Well, let's just say I don't feel much of a connection to them. This book is, in the words of a recent New York Times op ed piece, a "deal breaker" for me.
Every few years I reread the entire six-book Lucia saga over again. This first volume in the saga was as delightful as I remembered it.
Once a Luciaphile, always a Luciaphile. It's a select but oddly inclusive group, I've found over the years. Most of my closest friends are Benson devotees. And those folks who aren't? Well, let's just say I don't feel much of a connection to them. This book is, in the words of a recent New York Times op ed piece, a "deal breaker" for me.
Every few years I reread the entire six-book Lucia saga over again. This first volume in the saga was as delightful as I remembered it.
May 22, 2023
I am a big fan of retro British TV comedies. Two of my all time favourites are The Good Life & Keeping Up Appearances & I would like to think that Margo;
& Hyacinth;
were inspired by the snobby Emmeline 'Lucia' Lucas who queens it over the small village of Riseholme. Not carbon copies of course - it is impossible to imagine either of these Grande Dames indulging in the baby talk that Lucia used addressing the main men in her life - & they respond in kind!
Anyone need a bucket?
But, like the above two, Lucia is pretentious - & not nearly as cultured or clever as she thinks she is! Encounters with fail to humble her. But will renowned singer Olga Bracely see right through her...
This is the funniest book (that wasn't written by P.G. Wodehouse) that I have read in quite some time! I'm not surprised that Noël Coward was one of his admirers, & I'm glad that the Lucia & Mapp titles have been rescued from obscurity.
I'm actually reading an omnibus edition of the Lucia & Mapp series
& I am looking forward to tackling the rest of the titles!
https://wordpress.com/view/carolshess...
& Hyacinth;
were inspired by the snobby Emmeline 'Lucia' Lucas who queens it over the small village of Riseholme. Not carbon copies of course - it is impossible to imagine either of these Grande Dames indulging in the baby talk that Lucia used addressing the main men in her life - & they respond in kind!
"Geordie, come and have ickle talk," she said. "Me want 'oo wise man to advise ickle Lucia."
"What 'oo want?" asked Georgie, now quite quelled for the moment.
"Lots-things. Here's pwetty flower for buttonholie..."
Anyone need a bucket?
But, like the above two, Lucia is pretentious - & not nearly as cultured or clever as she thinks she is! Encounters with fail to humble her. But will renowned singer Olga Bracely see right through her...
This is the funniest book (that wasn't written by P.G. Wodehouse) that I have read in quite some time! I'm not surprised that Noël Coward was one of his admirers, & I'm glad that the Lucia & Mapp titles have been rescued from obscurity.
I'm actually reading an omnibus edition of the Lucia & Mapp series
& I am looking forward to tackling the rest of the titles!
https://wordpress.com/view/carolshess...
March 7, 2024
My introduction to the world of E.F. Benson's Mapp & Lucia novels was via the BBC TV adaptation broadcast in the UK in late December 2014. E.F. Benson's Mapp & Lucia novels were also recommended to me on GoodReads.
I am writing this review having just finished Queen Lucia, the first book in the Mapp and Lucia series. The novels, in chronological order, are:
Queen Lucia (1920)
Miss Mapp (1922)
Lucia in London (1927)
Mapp and Lucia (1931)
Lucia's Progress (1935)
Trouble for Lucia (1939)
There are also five other books based on the same characters written by other authors.
In this first book in the series we are introduced to Mrs Emmeline Lucas, known by all as Lucia (due to her penchant for using Italian phrases), along with a host of other memorable characters.
Whilst I am not convinced Queen Lucia should be taken at face value, it is a satire after all, it does give broad hints at the lifestyle of the idle rich in 1920's English society. For a book that was written almost a hundred years ago, it also feels remarkably fresh and readable.
One character, the gullible Mrs Daisy Quantock, is prone to embrace some of the era's health crazes and as such we get a short but interesting exposition of the tenets of Christian Science, and then an amusing dalliance with yoga - taught by her personal guru; and then onto another splendid infatuation with spiritualism via the services of a Russian medium known as Princess Popoffski.
The arrival of Mrs Quantock's Indian guru prompts Lucia to ensure she can utilise the guru's social currency in the competitive world of the village of Riseholme, a pretty Elizabethan village in Worcestershire, where Lucia vigorously guards her status as "Queen" despite occasional attempts from her subjects to overthrow her. Lucia’s dear friend Georgie Pillson (another fantastic character) both worships Lucia and occasionally works to subvert her power.
I did a little research to try to establish the pronunciation of Riseholme (apparently based on Broadway in the Cotwsolds) and understand it is pronounced "rizzum", which sounds credible.
E.F. Benson appears to simultaneously have affection for his Riseholme characters and hold them in mild contempt. None of the characters is especially likeable however their foibles and absurdities became more endearing as the book progressed, and their frequent humiliations become ever more amusing.
This comedy of manners captures the social order of 1920s England for those fortunate few who had the money to spend their time enjoying dinner parties and other social events, painting, writing letters, giving music recitals, parading their social status and exchanging gossip, whilst their servants facilitated their lives of ease and comfort. This premise, in the skilled hands of E.F. Benson, is the foundation of some beguiling comedic moments as he nails the snobbery and competitiveness of village life, and especially Lucia's ludicrous affectations.
I will admit that I was slightly bored during the first couple of introductory chapters, then my feelings changed to ambivalence, however by the final third I was enjoying every page. By the end of Queen Lucia I was thoroughly charmed and now appreciate how these books have inspired so much affection and devotion in their readers.
I'm a convert and I look forward to reading the rest of E.F. Benson's Mapp & Lucia novels.
4/5
I am writing this review having just finished Queen Lucia, the first book in the Mapp and Lucia series. The novels, in chronological order, are:
Queen Lucia (1920)
Miss Mapp (1922)
Lucia in London (1927)
Mapp and Lucia (1931)
Lucia's Progress (1935)
Trouble for Lucia (1939)
There are also five other books based on the same characters written by other authors.
In this first book in the series we are introduced to Mrs Emmeline Lucas, known by all as Lucia (due to her penchant for using Italian phrases), along with a host of other memorable characters.
Whilst I am not convinced Queen Lucia should be taken at face value, it is a satire after all, it does give broad hints at the lifestyle of the idle rich in 1920's English society. For a book that was written almost a hundred years ago, it also feels remarkably fresh and readable.
One character, the gullible Mrs Daisy Quantock, is prone to embrace some of the era's health crazes and as such we get a short but interesting exposition of the tenets of Christian Science, and then an amusing dalliance with yoga - taught by her personal guru; and then onto another splendid infatuation with spiritualism via the services of a Russian medium known as Princess Popoffski.
The arrival of Mrs Quantock's Indian guru prompts Lucia to ensure she can utilise the guru's social currency in the competitive world of the village of Riseholme, a pretty Elizabethan village in Worcestershire, where Lucia vigorously guards her status as "Queen" despite occasional attempts from her subjects to overthrow her. Lucia’s dear friend Georgie Pillson (another fantastic character) both worships Lucia and occasionally works to subvert her power.
I did a little research to try to establish the pronunciation of Riseholme (apparently based on Broadway in the Cotwsolds) and understand it is pronounced "rizzum", which sounds credible.
E.F. Benson appears to simultaneously have affection for his Riseholme characters and hold them in mild contempt. None of the characters is especially likeable however their foibles and absurdities became more endearing as the book progressed, and their frequent humiliations become ever more amusing.
This comedy of manners captures the social order of 1920s England for those fortunate few who had the money to spend their time enjoying dinner parties and other social events, painting, writing letters, giving music recitals, parading their social status and exchanging gossip, whilst their servants facilitated their lives of ease and comfort. This premise, in the skilled hands of E.F. Benson, is the foundation of some beguiling comedic moments as he nails the snobbery and competitiveness of village life, and especially Lucia's ludicrous affectations.
I will admit that I was slightly bored during the first couple of introductory chapters, then my feelings changed to ambivalence, however by the final third I was enjoying every page. By the end of Queen Lucia I was thoroughly charmed and now appreciate how these books have inspired so much affection and devotion in their readers.
I'm a convert and I look forward to reading the rest of E.F. Benson's Mapp & Lucia novels.
4/5
March 22, 2022
A wickedly funny & entertaining read excellently narrated by Nadia May, where we are shown how a self-anointed Queen (actually a rather small fish in an even smaller pond blowing herself up) is deprived of her laurel leaves and the "empress has no clothes".
Hats off to E.F. Benson.
"Mrs Lucas amused herself, in the intervals of her pursuit of Art for Art's sake, with being not only an ambassador but a monarch. Riseholme might perhaps according to the crude materialism of maps, be included in the kingdom of Great Britain, but in a more real and inward sense it formed a complete kingdom of its own, and its queen was undoubtedly Mrs Lucas, who ruled it with a secure autocracy pleasant to contemplate at a time when thrones were toppling, and imperial crowns whirling like dead leaves down the autumn winds.
(...)
Though essentially autocratic, her subjects were allowed and even encouraged to develop their own minds on their own lines, provided always that those lines met at the junction where she was station-master."
Hats off to E.F. Benson.
"Mrs Lucas amused herself, in the intervals of her pursuit of Art for Art's sake, with being not only an ambassador but a monarch. Riseholme might perhaps according to the crude materialism of maps, be included in the kingdom of Great Britain, but in a more real and inward sense it formed a complete kingdom of its own, and its queen was undoubtedly Mrs Lucas, who ruled it with a secure autocracy pleasant to contemplate at a time when thrones were toppling, and imperial crowns whirling like dead leaves down the autumn winds.
(...)
Though essentially autocratic, her subjects were allowed and even encouraged to develop their own minds on their own lines, provided always that those lines met at the junction where she was station-master."
July 17, 2019
What a horror of a main character, and what a charming book! Lucia is a pretentious, posing, preening, self-aggrandizing petty tyrant, who cannot bear to let anyone else share an inch of spotlight that she does not arrange and grant to them with royal magnanimity. And following her determined rivalry with old sparring partners and a spectacular newcomer was a delight. I can see why this was such a cult favorite of authors at the time. The characterization is wonderful. We all know, or have been at least in some small part, a Lucia. Or at least her somewhat fearful lieutenant with a toupee he is sure no one notices, the born follower Georgie. (Whose awakening to his own petty but amazing powers over his vain queen is fantastic.) Or maybe we’ve just been in the audience to privately enjoy it when a Lucia, self-proclaimed arbiter of culture, gets something spectacularly wrong publicly she has dubiously claimed to be an expert in. Or perhaps been lucky enough to be Olga, the kindhearted rival who never intended to be anything of the sort- but is because she’s about five times a better/more fun human than her rival, and so she becomes one naturally as people gravitate to her. The plot is busy nothings. But the people! They’ll knock you out.
December 29, 2020
I really enjoyed this. Very funny, very entertaining, full of fantastically silly characters. It is a little dated in places, but mostly is great fun.
April 23, 2020
Here on GR, DaytimeRiot told me this:
“I think the Mapp and Lucia series by E.F Benson is the best humorous literature Britain produced in the 20th century. They mock class in very different ways, but Benson's humor is far more subtle and understated: it lovingly, surgically eviscerates British village life like a diamond cutting glass. Benson is what Wodehouse could have been if Wodehouse had finally accepted adulthood.”
I was intrigued! Wodehouse hadn’t worked for me so I thought I would give Benson a try. I began with the first in the series-- Queen Lucia. DaytimeRiot’s words fit the book to a T!
Benson’s prose and humor are unique. They match each other. The writing is witty and clever. Words are sharp and precise, satire expressed through irony. Irony that shifts from being simple and good-natured to biting criticism depending upon the person speaking and that person’s mood.
While I marvel at the author’s prose and smile at the humor, I have trouble with both the novel’s theme and its characters.
The eponymous Lucia, pronounced Lu-ch-ia, lies at the center of the tale. A group of upper middle class friends circle around Lucia. It is the 1920s. In their village, Riseholme, Worcestershire, England, she is their “queen”. Her throne is threatened. Others try to usurp her power. It is this that the story circles around and it is this that we watch.
What is it that preoccupies the villagers? A guru and a mystic that conducts seances. A world renown opera singer takes up residence in the town. Hearts pitter patter. Secrets are alternately revealed and hidden. Dinner parties are given. The characters’ lives are trivial and inconsequential. The characters are bloated with snobbery. They vie with each other for social prestige and supremacy, each trying to outdo the others, and not over anything that is important but instead over the silliest of things. The highest social prestige is awarded that person who knows the latest gossip, first. All characters, except for one, behave in this manner. I find such behavior wearing, trivial and boring. This counteracts the prose and the humor.
The one character, , whom I like, plays too small a role in the story.
Baby-talk annoys me. Lucia mistakenly thinks this is cute.
Nadia May narrates the audiobook. I do not find her pronunciation terribly clear. Occasionally, she speaks too fast. She sounds very British, and this does fit the characters she is portraying. On the whole, the narration is pretty good, so I have given it three stars.
I am glad to have tried E.F. Benson. While I like his writing per se, the book wore me down. Writing a good novel is difficult. Even if the writing is very good, I am still not always satisfied.
“I think the Mapp and Lucia series by E.F Benson is the best humorous literature Britain produced in the 20th century. They mock class in very different ways, but Benson's humor is far more subtle and understated: it lovingly, surgically eviscerates British village life like a diamond cutting glass. Benson is what Wodehouse could have been if Wodehouse had finally accepted adulthood.”
I was intrigued! Wodehouse hadn’t worked for me so I thought I would give Benson a try. I began with the first in the series-- Queen Lucia. DaytimeRiot’s words fit the book to a T!
Benson’s prose and humor are unique. They match each other. The writing is witty and clever. Words are sharp and precise, satire expressed through irony. Irony that shifts from being simple and good-natured to biting criticism depending upon the person speaking and that person’s mood.
While I marvel at the author’s prose and smile at the humor, I have trouble with both the novel’s theme and its characters.
The eponymous Lucia, pronounced Lu-ch-ia, lies at the center of the tale. A group of upper middle class friends circle around Lucia. It is the 1920s. In their village, Riseholme, Worcestershire, England, she is their “queen”. Her throne is threatened. Others try to usurp her power. It is this that the story circles around and it is this that we watch.
What is it that preoccupies the villagers? A guru and a mystic that conducts seances. A world renown opera singer takes up residence in the town. Hearts pitter patter. Secrets are alternately revealed and hidden. Dinner parties are given. The characters’ lives are trivial and inconsequential. The characters are bloated with snobbery. They vie with each other for social prestige and supremacy, each trying to outdo the others, and not over anything that is important but instead over the silliest of things. The highest social prestige is awarded that person who knows the latest gossip, first. All characters, except for one, behave in this manner. I find such behavior wearing, trivial and boring. This counteracts the prose and the humor.
The one character, , whom I like, plays too small a role in the story.
Baby-talk annoys me. Lucia mistakenly thinks this is cute.
Nadia May narrates the audiobook. I do not find her pronunciation terribly clear. Occasionally, she speaks too fast. She sounds very British, and this does fit the characters she is portraying. On the whole, the narration is pretty good, so I have given it three stars.
I am glad to have tried E.F. Benson. While I like his writing per se, the book wore me down. Writing a good novel is difficult. Even if the writing is very good, I am still not always satisfied.
March 21, 2021
This was a tedious and overly lengthy read. I got annoyed at the shallow and silly characters. At first, I thought it would be funny and entertaining - all about social climbers in an English village. It was okay at first, but then it just got more and more superficial and pointless. It was a waste of time.
May 30, 2020
Queen Lucia, the first of Edward Frederic Benson’s Mapp and Lucia books, turns a 100 this year, and so I thought I should revisit. The stories centre around Emmeline Lucas (‘Lucia’) and Miss Elizabeth Mapp who battle for social supremacy in the village of Tilling (based on Rye where Benson himself lived).
The first book, Queen Lucia, which introduces us to Lucia (the second introduces us to Miss Mapp) has a different setting—the village of Riseholme (from where Lucia moves to Tilling in book 4), where Lucia is undisputed Queen of all things social—she organises garden parties, entertainments like tableaux, plays the piano and pronounces what music is the thing to be played (the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata is a favourite), and generally directs the cultural life of the village. (Her husband Peppino/Philip, a former lawyer, has also published two volumes of poetry). Others, like her right-hand man Georgie Pillson, and neighbour Daisy Quantock (who takes up a new fad every other day) usually simply follow, for attempts at Bolshevism (seeds of which creep up in them every so often) are often crushed rather ruthlessly (but with flair) by the Queen. Others like Lady Ambermere must be kept in good humour of course, but Lucia manages to ‘direct’ her as well to fall in with her plans much of the time. But things begin to change for Lucia’s ‘perfect’ life in Riseholme when Olga Braceley, the prima donna first visits and then moves into Riseholme. Olga is a good-natured and good-hearted character who almost instantly wins Georgie Pillson’s heart (and loyalty), but her interactions with Lucia don’t quite turn out right, for while Olga doesn’t intend it, she accidentally exposes Lucia’s pretensions (her reputation as a judge of good music, or her and her husband Pepino’s ability to converse in Italian, for instance) one after another, almost taking her ‘kingdom’ from her. But her kind heart means she is more than ready to restore it as well.
This was a fun read as always, and I found myself (like Olga) feeling a touch sorry for Lucia seeing all that she had created for herself slipping from right under her feet, even though Lucia can be rather spiteful (but even so, I find her more ‘likeable’ than Miss Mapp—by comparison, only of course). Daisy Quantock with her ever changing fads (which invariably end not just in disappointment but as cons) is a fun character—always excited when she picks up a new one, and then struggling to cover her tracks (or rather, the fiasco) when the inevitable happens; she is one of the few in Riseholme who attempt to rebel, yet there is little or no spite in her. Olga Braceley is perhaps my favourite in the book—she is fun, likeable, thoroughly straight-forward, and good-natured—trying to help and be kind to all, even Lucia who she knows has been nothing but rude and spiteful. She is also rather perceptive, able to see instantly what others don’t and able to bring others happiness rather than only accolades for herself. The other characters—Lady Ambemere with her mousy companion/assistant Miss Lyall and pug, Mrs Weston and Col. Boucher, ‘Piggie’ and Goosie Antrobus—are also fun, though some we get to see more of than others perhaps. (Benson’s The Freaks of Mayfair, by the way, had prototypes of some of these characters.)
When I compare the two villages in these initial books, I find life at Riseholme far more interesting than at Tilling where there might be battles for social one-upmanship, card parties, and even visits by the Prince, but which are not anywhere as much fun as Daisy Quantock and her yoga ‘Guru’ holding classes or Sybil séances or her many other fads or even the tableaux that Lucia plans and holds—life seems richer here in some ways and more fun. Like Olga Bracely says at one point, ‘Oh, it's all so delicious!’…‘I never knew before how terribly interesting little things were. It's all wildly exciting, and there are fifty things going on just as exciting.’
Each connected episode is a great deal of fun, and one certainly laughs or has a smile on ones face as one watches things unfold, and even as Lucia gets more and more into trouble (mean of us perhaps), and each fad or pretension is burst. I thoroughly enjoyed my revisit, and am moving on to Mapp and Lucia (book 4) now (I just read Miss Mapp before this), to see how the meeting between the two formidable ladies plays out.
The first book, Queen Lucia, which introduces us to Lucia (the second introduces us to Miss Mapp) has a different setting—the village of Riseholme (from where Lucia moves to Tilling in book 4), where Lucia is undisputed Queen of all things social—she organises garden parties, entertainments like tableaux, plays the piano and pronounces what music is the thing to be played (the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata is a favourite), and generally directs the cultural life of the village. (Her husband Peppino/Philip, a former lawyer, has also published two volumes of poetry). Others, like her right-hand man Georgie Pillson, and neighbour Daisy Quantock (who takes up a new fad every other day) usually simply follow, for attempts at Bolshevism (seeds of which creep up in them every so often) are often crushed rather ruthlessly (but with flair) by the Queen. Others like Lady Ambermere must be kept in good humour of course, but Lucia manages to ‘direct’ her as well to fall in with her plans much of the time. But things begin to change for Lucia’s ‘perfect’ life in Riseholme when Olga Braceley, the prima donna first visits and then moves into Riseholme. Olga is a good-natured and good-hearted character who almost instantly wins Georgie Pillson’s heart (and loyalty), but her interactions with Lucia don’t quite turn out right, for while Olga doesn’t intend it, she accidentally exposes Lucia’s pretensions (her reputation as a judge of good music, or her and her husband Pepino’s ability to converse in Italian, for instance) one after another, almost taking her ‘kingdom’ from her. But her kind heart means she is more than ready to restore it as well.
This was a fun read as always, and I found myself (like Olga) feeling a touch sorry for Lucia seeing all that she had created for herself slipping from right under her feet, even though Lucia can be rather spiteful (but even so, I find her more ‘likeable’ than Miss Mapp—by comparison, only of course). Daisy Quantock with her ever changing fads (which invariably end not just in disappointment but as cons) is a fun character—always excited when she picks up a new one, and then struggling to cover her tracks (or rather, the fiasco) when the inevitable happens; she is one of the few in Riseholme who attempt to rebel, yet there is little or no spite in her. Olga Braceley is perhaps my favourite in the book—she is fun, likeable, thoroughly straight-forward, and good-natured—trying to help and be kind to all, even Lucia who she knows has been nothing but rude and spiteful. She is also rather perceptive, able to see instantly what others don’t and able to bring others happiness rather than only accolades for herself. The other characters—Lady Ambemere with her mousy companion/assistant Miss Lyall and pug, Mrs Weston and Col. Boucher, ‘Piggie’ and Goosie Antrobus—are also fun, though some we get to see more of than others perhaps. (Benson’s The Freaks of Mayfair, by the way, had prototypes of some of these characters.)
When I compare the two villages in these initial books, I find life at Riseholme far more interesting than at Tilling where there might be battles for social one-upmanship, card parties, and even visits by the Prince, but which are not anywhere as much fun as Daisy Quantock and her yoga ‘Guru’ holding classes or Sybil séances or her many other fads or even the tableaux that Lucia plans and holds—life seems richer here in some ways and more fun. Like Olga Bracely says at one point, ‘Oh, it's all so delicious!’…‘I never knew before how terribly interesting little things were. It's all wildly exciting, and there are fifty things going on just as exciting.’
Each connected episode is a great deal of fun, and one certainly laughs or has a smile on ones face as one watches things unfold, and even as Lucia gets more and more into trouble (mean of us perhaps), and each fad or pretension is burst. I thoroughly enjoyed my revisit, and am moving on to Mapp and Lucia (book 4) now (I just read Miss Mapp before this), to see how the meeting between the two formidable ladies plays out.
February 6, 2023
2/5/23: Still a five star read for me - I listened to the audiobook this time, and enjoyed myself tremendously! I always forget how the beautiful, talented and extremely generous opera singer Olga Bracely, who has unwittingly charmed all of Riseholme away from their queen, engineers Lucia’s rise, like a glorious phoenix from the ashes of her singed ego, back to the heights to which she was accustomed, and it was brilliant! I do so love this series, the humor, the plotting, the social subterfuges of the village of Riseholme!
2019: It's been years since I first visited the idyllic village of Riseholme and it's queen and arbiter of all things artistic, Mrs. Lucia Lucas; I fell in love with her and the busy, gossiping denizens of Riseholme and then Tilling, Lucia's next home. I've collected all the books and decided it was well past time for a reread!
Lucia rules with an iron fist wrapped in velvet; it is for her to ruthlessly decide what is culturally and artistically acceptable, and she relishes her absolute sovereignty. When talented, warm, friendly and unaffected opera singer Olga Bracely and her husband Mr. Shuttlesworth (gasp! She goes by her maiden name), visit Riseholme, she decides it is the perfect "quiet backwater" to buy a country home where she can rest from her demanding career. She doesn't realize it is a seething cauldron of gossip, back-biting and constantly shifting alliances and one-upmanship over discovering the next big "thing", whether it be spiritualism, yoga or new diets, so the discoverer can wield social power over fellow Riseholmites - and wrestle control away from Queen Lucia...
Lucia is of course appalled at the idea of sharing the role of Riseholme's supreme social arbiter and sees Olga as a threat; Georgie Pillson, until now Lucia's loyal and devoted lieutenant arranging music, social activities, and anything else Lucia asks of him (it is accepted gossip that he is deeply devoted to the married Lucia, despite his gentle, effeminate nature and passion for collecting knick knacks, wearing capes and doing intricate embroidery work), is caught in the middle between the two warring factions. The fascinating part is, Olga could care less, enjoys everyone and only wants to enjoy the village and her new friends! She truly appreciates the unique characters in the village that Lucia simply sees as hers to command. Something's got to give, and I was trying to remember how Benson resolved the impossible situation when it was dropped lovingly into the reader's lap at the end of the book, fittingly as Riseholme approaches the Christmas season - Olga truly is a forgiving angel, and it falls to her and Georgie to make all right in Lucia's world!
I think you either love or hate Lucia; she's hardly likeable, unbelievably pretentious, and a first-class snob - and yet I find myself once again enthralled! I enjoy the first books of Lucia's adventures, but find myself anxious to get to Tilling where she encounters Miss Mapp, a foe worthy of her. As a reviewer said, "Nothing that Lucia and her enemy, Miss Mapp, did was ever of the slightest importance, but they did it with Napoleonic strategy, Attilan ferocity, and Satanic motive." Here in the infancy of her social supremacy, we see Queen Lucia rising phoenix-like from the ashes of social mishaps and humiliations to burn ever-brighter. Delicious!
2019: It's been years since I first visited the idyllic village of Riseholme and it's queen and arbiter of all things artistic, Mrs. Lucia Lucas; I fell in love with her and the busy, gossiping denizens of Riseholme and then Tilling, Lucia's next home. I've collected all the books and decided it was well past time for a reread!
Lucia rules with an iron fist wrapped in velvet; it is for her to ruthlessly decide what is culturally and artistically acceptable, and she relishes her absolute sovereignty. When talented, warm, friendly and unaffected opera singer Olga Bracely and her husband Mr. Shuttlesworth (gasp! She goes by her maiden name), visit Riseholme, she decides it is the perfect "quiet backwater" to buy a country home where she can rest from her demanding career. She doesn't realize it is a seething cauldron of gossip, back-biting and constantly shifting alliances and one-upmanship over discovering the next big "thing", whether it be spiritualism, yoga or new diets, so the discoverer can wield social power over fellow Riseholmites - and wrestle control away from Queen Lucia...
Lucia is of course appalled at the idea of sharing the role of Riseholme's supreme social arbiter and sees Olga as a threat; Georgie Pillson, until now Lucia's loyal and devoted lieutenant arranging music, social activities, and anything else Lucia asks of him (it is accepted gossip that he is deeply devoted to the married Lucia, despite his gentle, effeminate nature and passion for collecting knick knacks, wearing capes and doing intricate embroidery work), is caught in the middle between the two warring factions. The fascinating part is, Olga could care less, enjoys everyone and only wants to enjoy the village and her new friends! She truly appreciates the unique characters in the village that Lucia simply sees as hers to command. Something's got to give, and I was trying to remember how Benson resolved the impossible situation when it was dropped lovingly into the reader's lap at the end of the book, fittingly as Riseholme approaches the Christmas season - Olga truly is a forgiving angel, and it falls to her and Georgie to make all right in Lucia's world!
I think you either love or hate Lucia; she's hardly likeable, unbelievably pretentious, and a first-class snob - and yet I find myself once again enthralled! I enjoy the first books of Lucia's adventures, but find myself anxious to get to Tilling where she encounters Miss Mapp, a foe worthy of her. As a reviewer said, "Nothing that Lucia and her enemy, Miss Mapp, did was ever of the slightest importance, but they did it with Napoleonic strategy, Attilan ferocity, and Satanic motive." Here in the infancy of her social supremacy, we see Queen Lucia rising phoenix-like from the ashes of social mishaps and humiliations to burn ever-brighter. Delicious!
February 27, 2017
I read all of the Lucia books when I was 13 and thought they were so funny. I remember laughing out loud quite a bit. This time around I still enjoyed Queen Lucia, but not as much, and I'm not sure why. It was all very witty and amusing, but I found myself a little bored. Also, the silly factor, which I thought was so funny when I was younger, grated on me a bit. Maybe I'm just jaded now! Solid three stars for me this time.
October 25, 2017
A lovely comic novel about middle-class people attempting to pass for upper class and rich people with too much money and time on their hands getting involved with charlatans in the form of: Indian gurus, Russian mediums, weird religions and fake cures. I kept hoping for someone with common sense, but only one came along, Olga, an opera singer from a poor background.
November 16, 2013
I’m not quite sure how I have managed to make it to my advanced age without ever having read any of E F Benson’s Mapp and Lucia books - but there it is. I am now delightedly anticipating the remaining books I have to look forward to. I actually read this first book in Volume one of the Wordsworth classics The Complete Mapp and Lucia – which contains the first three novels. I like to spread out such delicious treats however, so I have decided to read (and review) each book separately – although I suspect I will be reading at least one of the next two books this month.
In ‘Queen Lucia’ we are introduced to the rarefied atmosphere of Riseholme where no one seems to do anything very much; but read, listen to music, plan dinner parties, indulge in the latest fad of the moment, and speculate about their neighbours.
“The hours of the morning between breakfast and lunch were the time which the inhabitants of Riseholme chiefly devoted to spying on each other.”
The undisputed queen of Riseholme is Mrs Emmeline Lucas – otherwise known as Lucia, who lives in three Elizabethan cottages made into one, surrounded by her Shakespearean garden (beds named for Shakespearean characters). Nothing of a remotely social or artistic nature takes place is Riseholme without Lucia being at the heart of its inception and preparation. Always at her side is her husband Philip – or “Pepino” and her “gentleman-in-waiting” Georgie. Lucia is hilariously affected, she pretends to speak Italian – despite only knowing a few phrases, practises playing new pieces of music, then upon sitting down to play declares it to be the first time she has tried it. Using baby language with Georgie while plotting to retain her hold over Riseholme society, Lucia goes as far as to “steal” her neighbour Daisy Quantock’s “Guru” – in order to continue to hold sway. Moving Daisy’s Indian Guru into her spare room so he can hold his yoga classes in her house is just one of the ways Lucia connives to put herself at the centre of Riseholme society.
“Throughout August, guruism reigned supreme over the cultured life of Riseholme, and the priestess and dispenser of its mysteries was Lucia. Never before had she ruled from so elate a pinnacle, nor wielded so secure a supremacy. None had access to the guru but through her: all his classes were held in the smoking- parlour and he meditated only in Hamlet or in the sequestered arbour at the end of the laburnum walk. Once he had meditated on the village green, but Lucia did not approve of that and had led him, still rapt, home by the hand.”
Lucia’s reign is soon threatened however, when a professional singer and Italian speaking beauty sweeps into Riseholme, captivating all – especially Georgie. Olga Bracely’s presence leads to a couple of very unfortunate and highly embarrassing episodes for poor Lucia, which hardly endears the newcomer to her.
Wonderfully satirical and hugely witty Queen Lucia is an absolute guaranteed literary pick-me-up. Many of the characters – in fact almost all of them are not really very likeable – however in a funny way that is definitely part of the charm. Lucia is fairly monstrous in her way, although not absolutely hateful. She is pretentious, snobbish and hypocritical, although also very slightly pitiful, there were moments I started to feel sorry for her. Georgie however is a comic delight, very vain and very camp he indulges Lucia in her pretensions, before being blinded by the light that is Olga Bracely. I adored the hilarious Daisy Quantock and her series of fads, having once been fascinated by Christian Science, she takes up yoga, and after losing her guru, embraces spiritualism, and which ever new fad Daisy endorses Lucia is soon to follow. Brilliantly comic, Queen Lucia makes me long to meet her rival Miss Mapp in the next instalment – which I may be doing, as early as next week.
In ‘Queen Lucia’ we are introduced to the rarefied atmosphere of Riseholme where no one seems to do anything very much; but read, listen to music, plan dinner parties, indulge in the latest fad of the moment, and speculate about their neighbours.
“The hours of the morning between breakfast and lunch were the time which the inhabitants of Riseholme chiefly devoted to spying on each other.”
The undisputed queen of Riseholme is Mrs Emmeline Lucas – otherwise known as Lucia, who lives in three Elizabethan cottages made into one, surrounded by her Shakespearean garden (beds named for Shakespearean characters). Nothing of a remotely social or artistic nature takes place is Riseholme without Lucia being at the heart of its inception and preparation. Always at her side is her husband Philip – or “Pepino” and her “gentleman-in-waiting” Georgie. Lucia is hilariously affected, she pretends to speak Italian – despite only knowing a few phrases, practises playing new pieces of music, then upon sitting down to play declares it to be the first time she has tried it. Using baby language with Georgie while plotting to retain her hold over Riseholme society, Lucia goes as far as to “steal” her neighbour Daisy Quantock’s “Guru” – in order to continue to hold sway. Moving Daisy’s Indian Guru into her spare room so he can hold his yoga classes in her house is just one of the ways Lucia connives to put herself at the centre of Riseholme society.
“Throughout August, guruism reigned supreme over the cultured life of Riseholme, and the priestess and dispenser of its mysteries was Lucia. Never before had she ruled from so elate a pinnacle, nor wielded so secure a supremacy. None had access to the guru but through her: all his classes were held in the smoking- parlour and he meditated only in Hamlet or in the sequestered arbour at the end of the laburnum walk. Once he had meditated on the village green, but Lucia did not approve of that and had led him, still rapt, home by the hand.”
Lucia’s reign is soon threatened however, when a professional singer and Italian speaking beauty sweeps into Riseholme, captivating all – especially Georgie. Olga Bracely’s presence leads to a couple of very unfortunate and highly embarrassing episodes for poor Lucia, which hardly endears the newcomer to her.
Wonderfully satirical and hugely witty Queen Lucia is an absolute guaranteed literary pick-me-up. Many of the characters – in fact almost all of them are not really very likeable – however in a funny way that is definitely part of the charm. Lucia is fairly monstrous in her way, although not absolutely hateful. She is pretentious, snobbish and hypocritical, although also very slightly pitiful, there were moments I started to feel sorry for her. Georgie however is a comic delight, very vain and very camp he indulges Lucia in her pretensions, before being blinded by the light that is Olga Bracely. I adored the hilarious Daisy Quantock and her series of fads, having once been fascinated by Christian Science, she takes up yoga, and after losing her guru, embraces spiritualism, and which ever new fad Daisy endorses Lucia is soon to follow. Brilliantly comic, Queen Lucia makes me long to meet her rival Miss Mapp in the next instalment – which I may be doing, as early as next week.
August 9, 2024
I don’t write reviews.
My word! Did I enjoy this! Mrs. Lucas and her husband are awful cultural poseurs of the first magnitude. They tsk London’s modernity and vulgarity and in their small town, they reign (let’s not withhold Mrs. Lucas her royal honours) SHE reigns, Queen Lucia. She, who sets the appropriate tone for those who follow her parties and musical gatherings. She, who began their interest in Italian and speaks casual, but never conversational, Italian with her adoring husband. The readings of her husband’s prose poetry and Dante by candlelight. Did I forget their after dinner tableaux? How could I have?
Then an opera singer, of effortless class and true cultural knowledge of the first magnitude, arrives: Olga Bracely. Poor Queen is insulted from the start and we readers learn quickly just how little Lucia understands about her friends, art, style and music. Yet sweet Olga never intends any ill will, making the reader love to be annoyed at Lucia’s tantrums.
Of course there is so much more. An Indian yogi guru and a Russian princess spiritualist/medium. Georgie, Lucia’s best friend who defects to Olga’s camp because of... love??! The members of the town itself, eccentrics all.
This feels like the precursor to Hyacinth Bucket. And I loved every second!
My word! Did I enjoy this! Mrs. Lucas and her husband are awful cultural poseurs of the first magnitude. They tsk London’s modernity and vulgarity and in their small town, they reign (let’s not withhold Mrs. Lucas her royal honours) SHE reigns, Queen Lucia. She, who sets the appropriate tone for those who follow her parties and musical gatherings. She, who began their interest in Italian and speaks casual, but never conversational, Italian with her adoring husband. The readings of her husband’s prose poetry and Dante by candlelight. Did I forget their after dinner tableaux? How could I have?
Then an opera singer, of effortless class and true cultural knowledge of the first magnitude, arrives: Olga Bracely. Poor Queen is insulted from the start and we readers learn quickly just how little Lucia understands about her friends, art, style and music. Yet sweet Olga never intends any ill will, making the reader love to be annoyed at Lucia’s tantrums.
Of course there is so much more. An Indian yogi guru and a Russian princess spiritualist/medium. Georgie, Lucia’s best friend who defects to Olga’s camp because of... love??! The members of the town itself, eccentrics all.
This feels like the precursor to Hyacinth Bucket. And I loved every second!
September 10, 2011
These days, most of us (ahem, myself included) can only imagine what a lotus-eating life of indolence and leisure, with days spent eating, reading, playing cards and listening to music, must be like. But thanks to E.F. Benson's Mapp and Lucia books, we have a good idea of what such an existence must have been like in provincial middle England in the 1920s and 1930s. I have been a fan of these books for years. They are surely amongst the funniest novels in the English language. They are gentle satires on the pretensions of the idle rich. And they are very humorous indeed. "Queen Lucia" is the first book in the series and, in my view, is the best one. It introduces us to the fabulous Lucia (Emmeline Lucas), Georgie and the sundry other characters who provide a rich seam of comical pleasure throughout the series. This is a wonderful book, one which I return to on a regular basis or when I need a pick-me-up. I urge you to read it - and the other books in the series. (Incidentally, there are two additional books in this canon, written by Tom Holt. While not as good as those written by E.F. Benson, they are also well worth trying.)
September 9, 2018
Abstenerse lectores que no sean fervorosos entusiastas de la comedia social inglesa acerca de la relamida burguesía rural y con ese humor cargado de sátira tan característico, porque esta primera novela de la saga Mapp y Lucía es ferozmente british.
Riseholme es un pintoresco pueblecito inglés, un aparente remanso de paz plagado de peculiares, exagerados y pretenciosos habitantes con una gula por los chismes exacerbada.
A mi me ha encantado la pluma de Benson, comprendo que el tipo de historia narrada pueda resultar aburrida? o cargante? si lo muy british no es debilidad como mi caso o, si se espera algún tipo de acción.
La miniserie me había gustado mucho y estoy deseando continuar con los libros.
Riseholme es un pintoresco pueblecito inglés, un aparente remanso de paz plagado de peculiares, exagerados y pretenciosos habitantes con una gula por los chismes exacerbada.
A mi me ha encantado la pluma de Benson, comprendo que el tipo de historia narrada pueda resultar aburrida? o cargante? si lo muy british no es debilidad como mi caso o, si se espera algún tipo de acción.
La miniserie me había gustado mucho y estoy deseando continuar con los libros.
May 15, 2017
I'm sad because I didn't love this. Both women are so unpleasant. I do realize that they're supposed to be comic characters, but this just didn't work for me at this time. I'm going to watch the BBC series and see if that helps.
November 30, 2016
3.5
“Hitum, Titum and Scrub”
Don’t you just love discovering new books with charming characters. I’d never heard of Lucia, or indeed Benson, and it is with surprise that I entered the leisurely enclave of Risholme. Its inhabitants are a delight of caricature of wealthy England between the wars. The author offers us colourful characters, from Lucia, our social prima donna, to her cohort consisting of her husband Peppino and friend Georgie, ruling over the rest of the village. But of course pretenders to her crown keep popping up, intrigues abound, and a newcomer disturbs the power balance.
This is a comedy of manners with many ludicrous scenes and dialogue that are very entertaining. However, Benson does also raise a very astute point about village life: "‘I never knew before how terribly interesting little things were. . . . Is it all of you who take such a tremendous interest in them that makes them so absorbing, or is it that they are absorbing in themselves . . . ?’
:O)
“Hitum, Titum and Scrub”
Don’t you just love discovering new books with charming characters. I’d never heard of Lucia, or indeed Benson, and it is with surprise that I entered the leisurely enclave of Risholme. Its inhabitants are a delight of caricature of wealthy England between the wars. The author offers us colourful characters, from Lucia, our social prima donna, to her cohort consisting of her husband Peppino and friend Georgie, ruling over the rest of the village. But of course pretenders to her crown keep popping up, intrigues abound, and a newcomer disturbs the power balance.
This is a comedy of manners with many ludicrous scenes and dialogue that are very entertaining. However, Benson does also raise a very astute point about village life: "‘I never knew before how terribly interesting little things were. . . . Is it all of you who take such a tremendous interest in them that makes them so absorbing, or is it that they are absorbing in themselves . . . ?’
:O)
September 18, 2024
This book is something else! It reminds me so much of Emma by Jane Austen except it's very thoroughly immersed in its early 20th century context. It's so funny how the inhabitants of Riseholme succumb to all the fads of the early 20th century (even yoga!). Of course, Queen Lucia is the driving force of the plot with her machinations to remain Queen, but I loved that we often get her chum Georgie's perspective. Georgie is such a delight! (His sisters make me laugh too; I want more of them!) I adore Olga's character and how she threatens Lucia's reign so perfectly and without even knowing it (at first). The way the tussle between Olga and Lucia comes to its conclusion is very satisfying. This definitely has a P.G. Wodehouse comic flavor that I adore, a slapstick element where the characters often look like chumps but you can't help liking them.
March 4, 2024
3.5 ⭐️
Written in 1920, Queen Lucia is a story of social satire set in the fictional Elizabethan town of Riseholme. Lucia has asserted her social dominance over her neighbors for many years, and feels her place threatened when her neighbor, Daisy, hires an Indian guru to teach her yoga. She also mistakenly believes that a newcomer to the village means to take her place and must deal with the consequences of her mistakes.
This is a humorous story, if not a little dense in places. I loved the characters, and feel as if I could walk down the street and see Lucia and Daisy and Georgie squabbling over yoga classes or garden parties. The setting is quaint and unique, and I would love to read more about the denizens of Riseholme. I have heard that the first book is not the best in the series, and like P.G. Wodehouse (whose style seems fairly similar), the books can be read out of order.
Content: 3 uses of d- as an expletive. Some mention of spiritualism and seances.
Written in 1920, Queen Lucia is a story of social satire set in the fictional Elizabethan town of Riseholme. Lucia has asserted her social dominance over her neighbors for many years, and feels her place threatened when her neighbor, Daisy, hires an Indian guru to teach her yoga. She also mistakenly believes that a newcomer to the village means to take her place and must deal with the consequences of her mistakes.
This is a humorous story, if not a little dense in places. I loved the characters, and feel as if I could walk down the street and see Lucia and Daisy and Georgie squabbling over yoga classes or garden parties. The setting is quaint and unique, and I would love to read more about the denizens of Riseholme. I have heard that the first book is not the best in the series, and like P.G. Wodehouse (whose style seems fairly similar), the books can be read out of order.
Content: 3 uses of d- as an expletive. Some mention of spiritualism and seances.
March 25, 2015
Emmeline (Lucia) Lucas wants nothing more than to rule over her friends and neighbours in the Elizabethan village of Riseholme. This novel is the first in a series featuring ‘Queen Lucia’ and introduces us to the characters and settings where the books are set. Published in 1920, the story begins with Lucia returning from London and looking forward to her pursuit of Art for Art’s sake. Riseholme is her own, personal fiefdom, where she reigns supreme with no poverty, discontent or upheaval. She is used to directing the life of her community; the culture and entertainment. However, change is in the air and her position is about to be threatened.
This is a clever novel about social snobbery and one-upmanship. Lucia’s neighbours include her second in command, Georgie Pillson, the fad obsessed Mrs Daisy Quantock (her interests even during this one, short novel, include Christian Science, yoga and spiritualism) and visiting opera singer, Olga Bracely. Of course, this novel satirises the idle rich and the author captures that perfectly – that time between breakfast and lunch when the inhabitants of Riseholme duck in and out of shops, spying on neighbours, and hugging titbits of gossip to carry on to others, is wonderfully told. However, although I did enjoy this, I did find the characters a little wearing and I doubt I will read on. It is, though, a good portrait of the wealthy between the wars, and of the lack of privacy in a small, village community.
This is a clever novel about social snobbery and one-upmanship. Lucia’s neighbours include her second in command, Georgie Pillson, the fad obsessed Mrs Daisy Quantock (her interests even during this one, short novel, include Christian Science, yoga and spiritualism) and visiting opera singer, Olga Bracely. Of course, this novel satirises the idle rich and the author captures that perfectly – that time between breakfast and lunch when the inhabitants of Riseholme duck in and out of shops, spying on neighbours, and hugging titbits of gossip to carry on to others, is wonderfully told. However, although I did enjoy this, I did find the characters a little wearing and I doubt I will read on. It is, though, a good portrait of the wealthy between the wars, and of the lack of privacy in a small, village community.
August 10, 2017
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.
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.
July 9, 2022
First read: 5/29/2011
Droll, amusing comedy of manners set in a small English village in the 1920s. Looking forward to the British TV series based on Benson's Mapp & Lucia books.
Second read: 6/28/2022
I thoroughly enjoyed this classic comedy of manners written by E.F. Benson who was born in 1867. Who would think so many hilarious and ridiculous intrigues could take place in a small English village. This is the first in a series of six novels about Lucia and her rival, Mapp, and was published in 1920. It takes place in Riseholme, a fictional village. Others in the series take place in Tilling, a fictional town modeled after Rye where the author lived.
Author and illustrator, Edward Gorey said this about the Lucia and Mapp novels:
"Benson's cult novels are wicked, funny masterpieces - and thoroughly addictive. . . . Lucia, Georgie and Mapp are three of the very greatest characters in English fiction and with them you can never go wrong."
I found myself frequently laughing out loud at some of the antics of Lucia, Georgie and their neighbor, Mrs. Quantock. If you want to immerse yourself in a small, gossipy English village full of intrigue, snobbery and hilarious episodes, give this one a try. There were two TV series made, one in 1985 and one in 2014, but they are hard to find.
Droll, amusing comedy of manners set in a small English village in the 1920s. Looking forward to the British TV series based on Benson's Mapp & Lucia books.
Second read: 6/28/2022
I thoroughly enjoyed this classic comedy of manners written by E.F. Benson who was born in 1867. Who would think so many hilarious and ridiculous intrigues could take place in a small English village. This is the first in a series of six novels about Lucia and her rival, Mapp, and was published in 1920. It takes place in Riseholme, a fictional village. Others in the series take place in Tilling, a fictional town modeled after Rye where the author lived.
Author and illustrator, Edward Gorey said this about the Lucia and Mapp novels:
"Benson's cult novels are wicked, funny masterpieces - and thoroughly addictive. . . . Lucia, Georgie and Mapp are three of the very greatest characters in English fiction and with them you can never go wrong."
I found myself frequently laughing out loud at some of the antics of Lucia, Georgie and their neighbor, Mrs. Quantock. If you want to immerse yourself in a small, gossipy English village full of intrigue, snobbery and hilarious episodes, give this one a try. There were two TV series made, one in 1985 and one in 2014, but they are hard to find.
September 7, 2007
First novel in his Lucia series that has been praised since it was published. It's just an exquisite portrait of a society where pretentiousness, fake emotion, fake culture are the norm. A wonderful satirical view of a class of people that are still very much alive today. Human nature doesn't change that much. Best example the poor Mrs Quantock and her addiction to fads from yoga to medium to Christian diet and so on. There is no real plot but the incisive portraits of the people inhabiting this little quaint bourgeois village of Riseholme is very entertaining. The plotting of who's on top of the food chain and the sweet but hardly innocent artiste that moves to the village and runs to the ground Lucia's little castle offer quite a romp. These characters aren't bad, a little shallow, a little short in compassion but highly fun to read about or to listen to since Queen Lucia is available in audiobook at LibriVox (free to download)
June 7, 2012
Queen Lucia is the comic period novel for those who shy away from the genre. It's perfect for anyone who's cynically observed Queen Bees at work in any era.
Queen Lucia operates as a delicious satire on two levels: Yes, the novel paints a particularly stinging picture of the social climbing of the British upper middle classes in the period between the World Wars. Our protagonist, E.F. Benson's Emmeline Lucas -- referred to as Queen Lucia behind her back -- considers herself "high-priestess at every altar of Art" and the small village of Riseholme's premiere social arbiter, imposing her iron will on all her neighbors. That Mrs. Lucas, whose Italian is virtually non-existent, insists that all of her friends and acquaintances refer to her as "Lucia," with the Italian pronunciation, gives the reader an early indication of just how pretentious Emmeline Lucas is.
That Lucia sees herself as the pinnacle of refinement and exalted sensibility and her hamlet as the pre-eminent bastion of high art in England is part of the delicious joke. Like Lucifer in Paradise Lost, the competitive Lucia would rather rule in a Cotswold backwater than serve in London, which she constantly disparages. Will Lucia be able to prevail when a nationally renowned opera singer moves into Riseholme? If she doesn't, it won't be for lack of trying, by fair means or foul!
While Queen Lucia ruthlessly ridicules the genteel social climbers of the 1920s, the novel also provides a scathing satire of Queen Bees of any period. Throughout the novel, you can see the beginnings of the current trend of suburbanites descending on idyllic rural parts and then transforming them into twee, Disneyfied versions of the original with no consideration for the locals. (Don't miss the send-up of Lucia's rarefied version of an Elizabethan cottage.) And Lucia's maneuvering to maintain her position as the arbiter of style and taste for Riseholme is hilarious. Scenes of the various residents of Riseholme kowtowing to those above them on the social hierarchy while condescending to those below could, with slight modifications, take place today in the Home Counties in England or the suburbs of Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois or California.
Every upper-middle-class suburb, whether in the UK or America, contains social climbers who will boast about "traveling in the best society" and will try to dominate their social circles and one-up everyone else. Any woman who has ever served on a committee or sent their child to a private school will recognize modern-day Emmeline Lucases who have proved as competitive and infuriating as Lucia.
Yet, however infuriating, pompous, domineering, and pretentious Lucia might be, her antics will keep you riveted to the last page. Nor will you be able to wait for the next novel, Lucia in London.
Queen Lucia operates as a delicious satire on two levels: Yes, the novel paints a particularly stinging picture of the social climbing of the British upper middle classes in the period between the World Wars. Our protagonist, E.F. Benson's Emmeline Lucas -- referred to as Queen Lucia behind her back -- considers herself "high-priestess at every altar of Art" and the small village of Riseholme's premiere social arbiter, imposing her iron will on all her neighbors. That Mrs. Lucas, whose Italian is virtually non-existent, insists that all of her friends and acquaintances refer to her as "Lucia," with the Italian pronunciation, gives the reader an early indication of just how pretentious Emmeline Lucas is.
That Lucia sees herself as the pinnacle of refinement and exalted sensibility and her hamlet as the pre-eminent bastion of high art in England is part of the delicious joke. Like Lucifer in Paradise Lost, the competitive Lucia would rather rule in a Cotswold backwater than serve in London, which she constantly disparages. Will Lucia be able to prevail when a nationally renowned opera singer moves into Riseholme? If she doesn't, it won't be for lack of trying, by fair means or foul!
While Queen Lucia ruthlessly ridicules the genteel social climbers of the 1920s, the novel also provides a scathing satire of Queen Bees of any period. Throughout the novel, you can see the beginnings of the current trend of suburbanites descending on idyllic rural parts and then transforming them into twee, Disneyfied versions of the original with no consideration for the locals. (Don't miss the send-up of Lucia's rarefied version of an Elizabethan cottage.) And Lucia's maneuvering to maintain her position as the arbiter of style and taste for Riseholme is hilarious. Scenes of the various residents of Riseholme kowtowing to those above them on the social hierarchy while condescending to those below could, with slight modifications, take place today in the Home Counties in England or the suburbs of Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois or California.
Every upper-middle-class suburb, whether in the UK or America, contains social climbers who will boast about "traveling in the best society" and will try to dominate their social circles and one-up everyone else. Any woman who has ever served on a committee or sent their child to a private school will recognize modern-day Emmeline Lucases who have proved as competitive and infuriating as Lucia.
Yet, however infuriating, pompous, domineering, and pretentious Lucia might be, her antics will keep you riveted to the last page. Nor will you be able to wait for the next novel, Lucia in London.
February 26, 2023
'...many were the evenings when, with lights quenched, and only the soft effulgence of the moon pouring in through the uncurtained windows, she sat with her profile, cameo-like (or liker perhaps to the head on a postage-stamp), against the dark-oak walls of her music room, and entranced herself and her listeners, if there were people to dinner, with the exquisite pathos of the first movements of the "Moonlight Sonata". Devotedly as she worshipped the Master, whose picture hung above her Steinway Grand, she could never bring herself to believe that the two succeeding movements were on the same astounding level as the first, and, besides, they "went" very much faster.'
All of this is very characteristic of Lucia. She stages her life enthusiastically, she styles every little scene; but she wouldn't learn the fast Beethoven movements, - yet she would never admit it's because they're difficult; it's because "the other two were more like morning and afternoon".
So this woman, histrionic and petty, exposes herself in a number of situations that fill us with second-hand embarrassment. How come we become so invested in her life by the end of the book that we actually want her to triumph?
In the words of one of the characters,
"Oh, it's all so delicious!" she said. "I never knew before how terribly interesting little things were. It's all wildly exciting, and there are fifty things going on just as exciting. Is it all of you who take such a tremendous interest in them that makes them so absorbing, or is it that they are absorbing in themselves, and ordinary dull people, not Riseholmites, don't see how exciting they are? Tommy Luton's measles : the Quantocks' secret : Elizabeth's lover !"
I've seen this book described as satire, but I disagree. There is nothing bitter about the humour here.
Well, I must confess, I love to style my life, too - e. g., I wear full skirts, even when I'm climbing up a ladder to water my plants, because I've decided that shorts, convenient as they may be, are unladylike. So of course I understand how one would want to play the Moonlight Sonata bathed in moonlight, or have a 'Shakespeare's garden':
'Here, as was only right and proper, there was not a flower to be found save such as were mentioned in the plays of Shakespeare; indeed it was called Shakespeare's garden, and the bed that ran below the windows of the dining room was Ophelia's border, for it consisted solely of those flowers which that distraught maiden distributed to her friends when she should have been in a lunatic asylum.'
So maybe I had a predisposition to like Lucia - but the fact is, I also came to like all the other 'darlings' :) In fact, I like them so much now I want to read the rest of the series.
An enjoyable experience (maybe especially suitable for hard times).
All of this is very characteristic of Lucia. She stages her life enthusiastically, she styles every little scene; but she wouldn't learn the fast Beethoven movements, - yet she would never admit it's because they're difficult; it's because "the other two were more like morning and afternoon".
So this woman, histrionic and petty, exposes herself in a number of situations that fill us with second-hand embarrassment. How come we become so invested in her life by the end of the book that we actually want her to triumph?
In the words of one of the characters,
"Oh, it's all so delicious!" she said. "I never knew before how terribly interesting little things were. It's all wildly exciting, and there are fifty things going on just as exciting. Is it all of you who take such a tremendous interest in them that makes them so absorbing, or is it that they are absorbing in themselves, and ordinary dull people, not Riseholmites, don't see how exciting they are? Tommy Luton's measles : the Quantocks' secret : Elizabeth's lover !"
I've seen this book described as satire, but I disagree. There is nothing bitter about the humour here.
Well, I must confess, I love to style my life, too - e. g., I wear full skirts, even when I'm climbing up a ladder to water my plants, because I've decided that shorts, convenient as they may be, are unladylike. So of course I understand how one would want to play the Moonlight Sonata bathed in moonlight, or have a 'Shakespeare's garden':
'Here, as was only right and proper, there was not a flower to be found save such as were mentioned in the plays of Shakespeare; indeed it was called Shakespeare's garden, and the bed that ran below the windows of the dining room was Ophelia's border, for it consisted solely of those flowers which that distraught maiden distributed to her friends when she should have been in a lunatic asylum.'
So maybe I had a predisposition to like Lucia - but the fact is, I also came to like all the other 'darlings' :) In fact, I like them so much now I want to read the rest of the series.
An enjoyable experience (maybe especially suitable for hard times).
June 24, 2009
The first of half a dozen books in the Lucia series, a gentle (though hardly subtle) satire of English small country town life in the 1920s. The first volume introduces the handful of main characters, their milieu and pretensions - among the most absurdly memorable is the classification of formality of dress into "hightum, tightum and scrub" (fully formal dress, fancy dress for more ordinary occasions and relatively casual), the appropriate designation printed on party invitations on so on.
Though I was fairly certain the author had invented this preposterous terminology, a little Googling suggests the terms may actually have been in use in late Victorian England http://digital.library.upenn.edu/wome...
Though I was fairly certain the author had invented this preposterous terminology, a little Googling suggests the terms may actually have been in use in late Victorian England http://digital.library.upenn.edu/wome...
April 5, 2010
"The hours of the morning between breakfast and lunch were the time which the inhabitants of Riseholme chiefly devoted to spying on each other." Now these are my kind of people!
Hilarious - life in "backwater" England with a flair unmatched...from yoga to opera to seances, the jockeying of the village's inhabitants to hold onto (or pilfer) their "next great thing" is well worth reading.
Laughing loudly in public places while reading this...
I'm re-reading Queen Lucia since I got my hands on the complete collection under one cover ("Make Way for Lucia") from the library - 900+ pages is a lot to drag around, but I'm reminded how worthwhile and comically rewarding it is...
Hilarious - life in "backwater" England with a flair unmatched...from yoga to opera to seances, the jockeying of the village's inhabitants to hold onto (or pilfer) their "next great thing" is well worth reading.
Laughing loudly in public places while reading this...
I'm re-reading Queen Lucia since I got my hands on the complete collection under one cover ("Make Way for Lucia") from the library - 900+ pages is a lot to drag around, but I'm reminded how worthwhile and comically rewarding it is...
October 3, 2017
If I'd read this first, I doubt I'd have gone on to discover Benson's masterpiece 'Mapp and Lucia'; but doing it out of sequence after having loved Mapp and Lucia so deeply made this a pretty disappointing read too - catch 22. Some funny situations and dialogue, and it was interesting to see the characters of Lucia and (gay-gay-flamingly-gay) Georgie in inchoate form. But this did not fit together into a memorable whole. Read Mapp and Lucia instead!
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