Hi, it's Nicola Cochlin. Young people have been making history for years, but we don't often hear about them. My brand new series on BBC Sounds sets out to put this right. In history's youngest heroes, I'll be revealing the fascinating stories of 12 young people who've played a major role in history and who've helped shape our world. Like Audrey Hepburn, Nelson Mandela,

Louis Braille and Lady Jane Grey, history's youngest heroes with me, Nicola Cochlin. Listen on BBC Sounds.

This is a download from the BBC. To find out more, visit BBC.com.ukuk slash radio four.

Hello on today's program, we discuss the fate of the jobbing author

and why no one wants to be called a mid-lister.

And revisit the delightfully catty world of Emmeline Lucas and Elizabeth Map,

better known as Map and Lucia.

I attended a meeting at the town council, but there was very little business.

The town council, did you say?

Yes, they did me the honour to co-opt me,

for a member has resigned owing to ill health.

I felt it my duty to fill the vacancy.

Ah.

Let us go in to lunch.

Map and Lucia in Lucia's Progress by E.F. Benson, played there in a Radio 4 adaptation by Belinda Lang and Nicola McCalliffe.

Later, we look into their enduring appeal.

But first, Marina Levitska, one of the few British authors

who could truly be said to specialise in contemporary fiction.

Marina is also unusual for her extremely long career as an unpublished author.

Her debut novel, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian,

came out when she was in her mid-50s,

but was definitely a case of better late than

...