The Mapp & Lucia Novels Books
"There is some irony in the fact that Benson, the creator of everything from plays to sober biographies, is best remembered for his series of LUCIA novels, delicious satires of the pretensions and foibles of provincial middle-class life in Britain in the 1920s and '30s. Still, given Benson's droll send-ups of the bitter battles waged by matrons desperate to live out their fantastical versions of upper-class elegance and wit, and his shrewd readings of the ways in which our longings can make us both bizarre and sometimes appealing, it's very likely an irony he would have savored. . . . Queen Lucia, the first in the series, follows Mrs. Lucas (Lucia to her most intimate friends) through a lengthy and often hilarious campaign to derail the career of a would-be rival to the throne of cultural arbiter. The plot, however, is less important than the pratfalls. The six Lucia novels form a kind of epic portrait of striving gone mod, and it's good to have them appearing once again." -- Kirkus
Arch-schemer and social climber, Miss Mapp spends her days using opera glasses and a notebook to chart her neighbors' affairs. Among her interests are Major Benjamin Flint, whom she has been trying to marry for years.
Here is Lucia in one of her most extraordinary adventures: can she conquer her new home of London, and still hold her societal ground over the stately country mansions of Riseholme as well? Will the citizens of Riseholme - hurt and maddened by Lucia's desertion for the great city - carry out their plot of revenge?
This title contains three of Benson's Lucia stories. "Queen Lucia" was published in 1920, "Miss Mapp" in 1922 and "Lucia in London" in 1927. They are much-loved novels of provincial snobbery and became a successful television series.
Subtly brilliant comedy of social rivalry between the wars. Emmeline Lucas (known universally to her friends as Lucia) is an arch-snob of the highest order. In Miss Elizabeth Mapp of Mallards Lucia meets her match. Ostensibly the most civil and genteel of society ladies, there is no plan too devious, no plot too cunning, no depths to which they would not sink, in order to win the battle for social supremacy. Using as their deadly weapons garden parties, bridge evenings and charming teas, the two combatants strive to outcharm each other - and the whole of Tilling society - as they vie for the position of doyenne of the town.
A stage adaptation of the novels of E.F. Benson, and the war for social supremacy between Lucia and Miss Mapp in the small coastal town of Tilling. Hitherto, Tilling's doyenne has been Miss Mapp; so when Lucia rents Miss Mapp's house for the summer, the battle lines are drawn.
"Mapp & Lucia" first published in 1935. "Lucia's progress" first published 1935. "Trouble for Lucia" first published in 1939.
In Trouble for Lucia, Lucia learns to ride a bicycle, and we live through the saga of Blue Birdie (Mrs. Wyse's dead budgerigar [parakeet] invoke in a seance).Lucia and Georgie renew their acquaintance with the operatic diva Olga Braceley and the composer Cortese, but nobody in Tilling believes her when she claims to have entertained a duchess overnight. Lucia becomes Mayor of Tilling and Miss Mapp is appointed her Mayoress. This is the sixth volume in the Lucia Series.
In postwar Britain, the quaint town of Tilling is feeling the pull of both the modern world and its Norman past. Elizabeth Mapp-Flint, in yet another bid to wrest power back from her social rival Lucia Pillson—now the town’s mayor—purchases a motor-car. Hoping to improve her shaky motoring skills in private, she makes a significant tactical error by leaving town. Lucia profits from Elizabeth’s absence by putting one of her “ideas” into action: the embroidery of a tapestry depicting the history of Tilling, one that will surely surpass Bayeux’s. All Lucia’s subjects are called upon to labour long and hard in its execution. Meanwhile Elizabeth, stranded in Southampton, happens upon a game of Monopoly in her hotel room, and—minus her broken-winged chariot—hurries home to rescue her fellow Tillingites from the tedium of Lucia’s latest worthy endeavor. Who will prove the greater master of Monopoly? What will become of the abandoned tapestry? Is Elizabeth really descended from Norman nobility? Is Mallards haunted, and if so, who saw the ghost first—Lucia, its current resident, or Elizabeth, its former owner? It is not in the best interests of the Tillingites to allow either woman to prevail for long. For in the end, Lucia and Elizabeth’s tactical maneuvering and petty victories and defeats offer the best entertainment in town. Originally published in 1986, Lucia Triumphant is the second of Tom Holt’s officially sanctioned sequels to the hilarious “Lucia” novels of E.F. Benson.