E.F. Benson

Reproduction of the original: Queen Lucia by E.F. Benson

Queen Lucia

Sarah Escorsa

I clearly must have missed something here. I expected to absolutely love this book. I just love British literature from early 20th century, I love humour and satire and I love Wodehouse (from what I’ve read Lucia’s world is supposed to be reminiscent of Jeeves & Wooster’s). I couldn’t wait to read Queen Lucia and was eager to get my hands on the whole series, expecting to have a great time reading its many instalments. What a disappointment this turned out to be! I still can’t believe it! I see the rave reviews here and there and wonder whether the reviewers and I have actually read the same book.

I am really surprised this book (and the rest of the series) is compared to Wodehouse’s work when it clearly lacks its humour and wackiness. I didn’t find Queen Lucia funny at all and don’t even recall smiling while reading the book. To make things worse, I just don’t like the character of Lucia. She lacks charisma and I find her quite annoying… Not a great introduction to this series I’m afraid! I’m still pondering whether I should read Miss Mapp. It seems some reviewers who were also disappointed with Queen Lucia quite enjoyed it so I might give it a try:)

Daniel Kilby

Edward Frederic Benson

Beloved by a legion of fans, Queen Lucia is the first in a series of six novels written by E.F. Benson in the 1920's and 1930's.

A Novel

Alexia

Amro Gebreel

E. F. Benson

"There is some irony in the fact that Benson, the creator of everything from plays to sober biographies, is best remembered for his series of LUCIA novels, delicious satires of the pretensions and foibles of provincial middle-class life in Britain in the 1920s and '30s. Still, given Benson's droll send-ups of the bitter battles waged by matrons desperate to live out their fantastical versions of upper-class elegance and wit, and his shrewd readings of the ways in which our longings can make us both bizarre and sometimes appealing, it's very likely an irony he would have savored. . . . Queen Lucia, the first in the series, follows Mrs. Lucas (Lucia to her most intimate friends) through a lengthy and often hilarious campaign to derail the career of a would-be rival to the throne of cultural arbiter. The plot, however, is less important than the pratfalls. The six Lucia novels form a kind of epic portrait of striving gone mod, and it's good to have them appearing once again." -- Kirkus

Queen Lucia

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