England between the wars was a paradise of calm and leisure for the very, very rich. 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 subdued formality of her class.

With her cohort, Georgie Pillson, and her husband, Peppino, Lucia upends the greats of high society: 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 all the rest of the small English town that the British rich call their country home. Beset on all sides by pretenders to her social throne, Lucia brings culture, fine arts, excitement, and intrigue into this cloistered realm.

Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940), born in Berkshire, England, wrote fiction, reminiscences, and biographies. He is best remembered for his arch, satirical novels and his urbane autobiographical studies of Edwardian and Georgian society. Benson was educated at Cambridge. After graduation he worked in Athens for the British School of Archaeology and later in Egypt for the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies. In 1893 he published Dodo, a novel that attracted wide attention. It was followed by other successful novels—such as Mrs. Ames (1912), Queen Lucia (1920), Miss map (1922), and Lucia in London (1927). He also published books on a wide range of subjects, including biographies of Queen Victoria, William Gladstone, and William II of Germany. Benson’s reminiscences include As We Were (1930), As We Are (1932), and Final Edition (1940).