Rating: 
Summary: Long live the Queen
Review: There are six Lucia novels by author Benson, who set the redoubtable Mrs. Lucas (Lucia, to her friends) first in Riseholme, really Broadway in the Cotswold. "Queen Lucia" is the first of the novels, and really, probably the weakest. Yet, you really can't help but be drawn into this microcosm of gentile upper-middle class English society set between the two World Wars in that frothy time period.Nothing Lucia does is momentous, and she is an utter snob and pretentious to a nauseating level. Yet, we are captivated by her antics, stupid as they are. Predictably, her striving to be the Social Queen of Riseholme produces some deservedly embarrassing moments (she hires a Guru of dubious repute, for one thing.) But, being Lucia, she surmounts event the worst humiliation with sheer nerve. The later novels pit Lucia against a far more worthy foe, Miss Mapp of Tilling. Miss Mapp even has her own novel sans Lucia, and the two tangle deliciously in the remaining four novels. If you like "Queen Lucia", you will adore the rest of the series. Benson was the son of an Archbishop of Cantebury and had brilliant and artistic brothers and sisters. He was the longest-lived of the siblings, and produced many novels and scholarly histories, which sadly are out of print. Only these novels remain of his work, probably the most trivial. Yet the world they create, out of nothing but vanity and snobbish posing, is so captivating that their popularity almost never wanes. The series contains: Queen Lucia
Lucia in London
Miss Mapp
Mapp and Lucia
Lucia's Progress/The Worshipful Lucia
Trouble for Lucia These are perfect escapist novels if you love things like "Masterpiece Theater" or BBC television. Just the thing for a cold winter day and a cup of tea.
Rating: 
Summary: best author I have ever read
Review: There is a smile behind every word. No murderers, international disasters, spies etc. Benson's characters are real people whose simple lives are more interesting than murders, spies, etc. You have to read to understand. When you do you will recognize his characters wherever you go and start believiing they are real.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely wonderful!!
Review: Why has this series of books been out of print for so long? It is such a great pleasure, as a constant reader, to stumble across a teasure such as this. To me, this book is a cross between Auntie Mame and the British TV series "Keeping Up Appearances." It is such a pleasure to savor the wonderful use of the English language that Mr. Benson exhibits in his writing. Queen Lucia and her companion of sort, Georgie, are true camp in the most exaggerated way. I eagerly await the publication of the remaining books in this series and have already placed my order with Amazon for the next installment.
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