| Author | E. F. Benson |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Comic novel |
| Publisher | Hutchinson |
Publication date | July 1920 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Followed by | Miss Mapp |
Queen Lucia is a 1920 comic novel written by E. F. Benson. It is the first of six novels in the popular Mapp and Lucia series, about idle women in the 1920s and their struggle for social dominance over their small communities. This book introduces Emmeline Lucas, known as Lucia to her friends, the social queen of the fictional Elizabethan village of Riseholme, as well as her husband Philip ("Peppino") Lucas, her best friend Georgie Pillson and her friendly rival, Daisy Quantock.[1]
The book was a success for Benson, his greatest since writing Dodo in 1893.[2] Benson biographer Brian Masters writes, "The Athenaeum cleverly pointed out that Mr. Benson's humour had gone, not to the dogs, but to the cats."[3] Geoffrey Palmer and Lloyd Noel write, "With Queen Lucia, Fred [Benson] successfully entered into a new realm of social satire mixed with comedy and tinged with farce... With penetrating ruthlessness, he speared his characters' pretensions and held them up for ridicule, though he always tempered his attack with affectionate understanding."[4]
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