"[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, andshrewd readings of the ways in which our
longings can make us both bizarre and sometimes appealing."Kirkus Reviews

The fascinating story 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 LucasLa Lucia, as she is knowna 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: 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, the fine arts, and a great deal of excitement and intrigue
into this cloistered realm.