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  • Queen Lucia

  • By: E. F. Benson
  • Narrated by: Nadia May
  • Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (7 ratings)

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Queen Lucia cover art

Queen Lucia

By: E. F. Benson
Narrated by: Nadia May
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Publisher's Summary

The fascinating story of the village of Riseholme's reigning queen of high society: the indomitable Lucia!

England between the wars was a paradise of utter calm and leisure for the very, very rich. But into this enclave is born Mrs. Emmeline Lucas - La Lucia, as she is known - a woman determined to lead a life quite different from the pomp and subdued nature of her class. With her cohort, Georgie Pillson, and her husband, Peppino, she upends the greats of high society, including the imperious Lady Ambermere and her equally imperious dog, Pug; the odious Piggy and Goosie Antrobus; the Christian Scientist Daisy Quantrock, with her penchant for the foreign; and everyone else in the small English town that the wealthy Britons call their country home. Beset on all sides by pretenders to her social throne, Lucia brings culture, the fine arts, and a great deal of excitement and intrigue into this cloistered realm.

(P)1997 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic Reviews

"[A] delicious satire of the pretensions and foibles of provincial middle-class life in Britain in the 1920s and '30s...[with] droll send-ups of the bitter battles waged by matrons desperate to live out their fantastical versions of upper-class elegance and wit, and...shrewd readings of the ways in which our longings can make us both bizarre and sometimes appealing." (Kirkus Reviews)

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Very entertaining

Nadia May does a fantastic job of bringing all the characters in this story to life. While a scathing criticism of the rising middle classes in the 1920s, this is also great fun. There is both criticism and affection expressed, even for the worst of them at their worst. A very entertaining listen. Be warned the "N" word crops up out of the blue; an artefact of different, less enlightened times.

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