- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Prion Books Ltd; New edition edition (13 May 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1853753904
- ISBN-13: 978-1853753909
- Product Dimensions: 18.6 x 12.2 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 315,088 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Mapp and Lucia (Vintage Classics Promo 117)
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Product Description
Book Description
'Here she is again, the splendid creature, the great, the wonderful Lucia' Nancy Mitford, The Times
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
"Mapp and Lucia" is the centrepiece of E.F. Benson's series of Lucia novels - bringing together for the first time the eponymous middle-aged doyennes of polite 1930s society Miss Elizabeth Mapp and Emmeline Luca (Lucas to her friends). Lucia, recently widowed, is the newcomer to the village of Tilling and eager to wrest the reins of social supremacy from the incumbant Miss Mapp and install herself as its benevolent dictator. In their polite acts of sabotage and ruthless jockeying for the position of cultural arbiter Mapp and Lucia tear up the conventions of drawing-room bridge evenings as their deadly weapons. Things finally come to a head with Miss Mapp's audacious attempt to steal her rival's celebrated Lobster a la Riseholme. E.F. Benson's charming satrical bent turns the pretensions and snobberies of English village life into a vicious comedy.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
At first I found the Mapp and Lucia books disappointing, if not tarsome. They seemed like pale watercolours when compared to the vivid and breezy strokes of Wodehouse's Wooster, so I confess that the popularity of Benson's two gently warring ladies was a mystery.
Perseverance however paid off and addiction followed. The rivalry between Elizabeth Mapp and Emmeline Lucas (Lucia) is very subtle and the eccentricities of the characters who encircle them seem at first trite, but then become delicious, even outrageous, given the time in which the books were published.
In this book, Mapp and Lucia, each being central to the social lives of their respective villages (Tilling and Riseholme) are thrust together when Lucia rents Mapp's house for a few weeks in summer, while Mapp herself rents a neighbour's smaller house so that she can make a little money, as do several other residents who form a chain of rental possession for a few weeks each year.
Lucia's swift popularity with the locals chafes Mapp considerably and she attempts to undermine her at every opportunity. Lucia rises to the challenge and thus begins a genteel savagery between them which galvanises the locals and moves the tide of approval from one to the other, depending on the nature of the skirmish. Each lady gets her come-uppance at various points along the way, yet both always emerge eager for their next polite duel.
But this and the others books in the series are not simply tales of two ladies out-snobbing each other - there is much warmth and vulnerability woven into their characters, despite their desire for social prominence in their small world. Moreover, the books give a glimpse back in time to a pre-WWII era, when shopping for fresh produce was a daily necessity, small villages had their own railway stations and domestic staff were still commonplace for those who could afford them.
Many of the other main characters are comically surreal; the Birmingham vicar with a medieval cod-Scots accent; the wealthy Susan who is never seen without her sable and Rolls Royce; plump Diva and her forthright gossip; `Quaint Irene' and her lesbianism; and Lucia's closest companion, the devoted, toupee-wearing Georgie Pillson, whose devotion is not beyond slipping when Lucia gets too high-handed.
It's a pity that Benson didn't write more Mapp and Lucia books, but the ones we have are fully deserving of their long-standing affection in English comic literature.
Perseverance however paid off and addiction followed. The rivalry between Elizabeth Mapp and Emmeline Lucas (Lucia) is very subtle and the eccentricities of the characters who encircle them seem at first trite, but then become delicious, even outrageous, given the time in which the books were published.
In this book, Mapp and Lucia, each being central to the social lives of their respective villages (Tilling and Riseholme) are thrust together when Lucia rents Mapp's house for a few weeks in summer, while Mapp herself rents a neighbour's smaller house so that she can make a little money, as do several other residents who form a chain of rental possession for a few weeks each year.
Lucia's swift popularity with the locals chafes Mapp considerably and she attempts to undermine her at every opportunity. Lucia rises to the challenge and thus begins a genteel savagery between them which galvanises the locals and moves the tide of approval from one to the other, depending on the nature of the skirmish. Each lady gets her come-uppance at various points along the way, yet both always emerge eager for their next polite duel.
But this and the others books in the series are not simply tales of two ladies out-snobbing each other - there is much warmth and vulnerability woven into their characters, despite their desire for social prominence in their small world. Moreover, the books give a glimpse back in time to a pre-WWII era, when shopping for fresh produce was a daily necessity, small villages had their own railway stations and domestic staff were still commonplace for those who could afford them.
Many of the other main characters are comically surreal; the Birmingham vicar with a medieval cod-Scots accent; the wealthy Susan who is never seen without her sable and Rolls Royce; plump Diva and her forthright gossip; `Quaint Irene' and her lesbianism; and Lucia's closest companion, the devoted, toupee-wearing Georgie Pillson, whose devotion is not beyond slipping when Lucia gets too high-handed.
It's a pity that Benson didn't write more Mapp and Lucia books, but the ones we have are fully deserving of their long-standing affection in English comic literature.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The great point regarding Mapp & Lucia is that they are thoroughly likeable, although not entirely so: the reader is treated to two characters who are not vying for your attention or aiming to please you. Instead, we are presented primarily with two wonderful characters, whose daily plots do entice the reader to want to turn the page ahead quicker to find out the result, often with a silent gasp of "oh no, but that means...". Thoroughly recommended to lovers of Mitford, and too some extent, Waugh - as in those who enjoy the first half of Vile Bodies etc.
A word of warning, though. Mapp and Lucia is the fourth of six stories by Benson. Purchasers are advised to go for the two other volumes from Penguin: Lucia Rising and Lucia Victrix. This present volume forms part of the Penguin Modern Classics series, which sets this book on its own: whilst Benson's writing means that you don't necessarily need to read the previous three, I was rather cross to find that there were three preceding books, to which there are no reference in this edition.
A word of warning, though. Mapp and Lucia is the fourth of six stories by Benson. Purchasers are advised to go for the two other volumes from Penguin: Lucia Rising and Lucia Victrix. This present volume forms part of the Penguin Modern Classics series, which sets this book on its own: whilst Benson's writing means that you don't necessarily need to read the previous three, I was rather cross to find that there were three preceding books, to which there are no reference in this edition.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
An absolute must read for all lovers of humourous writing. Benson's tale of social struggle is a true masterpiece and demonstrates what an insightful observer of human nature Benson was. English wit exemplified.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Delightful adaptation of E.F. Benson's novels for audio
This review is for the Hachette Digital audio adaptation of Mapp and Lucia by E.F. Benson, which is read with great aplomb by Miriam Margolyes. Read more
Published 5 months ago by L. Weale
Book review
Very funny, a book where you hope the worst woman wins!! It's not often you read a book, hoping and wondering and laughing at the next show of one up-woman-ship that will be... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Chii Chii
How Delightful!
It is nice to come back to an old friend once in a while, and this one is always good for a giggle.
It has to be said that Mapp is no match for Lucia even though the... Read more
It has to be said that Mapp is no match for Lucia even though the... Read more
Published 22 months ago by M. J. Saxton
This is England
I like all the EF Benson Tilling and Riseholme books. However, Mapp and Lucia is the best. I do have a preference for short stories over long and complex novels, for I find that... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Jean F
Warning: This is an abridged reading
Had I known that this brilliant book was abridged for this audio edition, I would not have purchased it. Read more
Published on 4 April 2010 by Phideaux Xavier
Not exactly unavailable.
Please note the Prunella Scales reading is much easier to find in its original version. Read more
Published on 23 Mar 2010 by Stephen Whitaker
Subtly brilliant interwar social comedy
'Mapp and Lucia' was written in 1931 and while E.F Benson had written 3 prior novels featuring either Elizabeth Mapp or Emmeline (Lucia) Lucas, this was the first to feature both... Read more
Published on 2 Jan 2010 by Dinah93
Disappointing
As a lifelong fan of PG Wodehouse, and seeing the introduction to this book put the series in a class with Wodehouse, Dickens, Waugh and Diary of a Nobody, I was hoping for more... Read more
Published on 19 Oct 2009 by Jon
Very English humour
This novel is a delicious evocation of a past age, where the protagonists have nothing better to do than plot and scheme all day whilst attended to by cook and parlour maid. Read more
Published on 17 Aug 2006 by S. A. Dodwell
Gently amusing
Two middle-aged ladies of independent means vie with each other for control of the social scene in a provincial town known as Tilling, but which is of course a thinly disguised Rye... Read more
Published on 29 May 2006 by bookpike
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