E. F. Benson

Edward Frederic Benson (1867–1940) was a prolific English author, the son of an Archbishop of Canterbury. He wrote over 100 books, including novels, biographies, and short stories. Benson is celebrated for his comedic Mapp and Lucia series, which skewers the social ambitions of small-town English life, and for his atmospheric ghost stories, collected in volumes such as 'The Room in the Tower' and 'Ghost Stories.' His supernatural tales are noted for their psychological subtlety and restrained horror, often set in genteel, domestic settings. Benson also wrote biographies of historical figures like Queen Victoria and Sir Francis Drake. Though less commercially dominant in his later years, his literary legacy has endured, with the Mapp and Lucia novels adapted for television and his ghost stories remaining classics of the genre.