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Edward Frederick Benson
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Mapp and Lucia Paperback – January 1, 2005

by E. F. Benson (Author), Gilbert Seldes (Introduction)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 333 ratings
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The fourth installment of the popular series-a hilarious study of 1930s manner and pecking order-begins when Lucia Lucas rents a summer place-the home of Elizabeth Mapp-in the English village of Tilling. Between Miss Mapp's penchant for spying on the neighbors and Lucia's fussy sidekick, Georgie, the stage is set for a battle of wits.
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  1. Print length
    277 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Moyer Bell and its subsidiaries
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 2005
  5. Dimensions
    5.52 x 0.89 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1559212322
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1559212328
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The six Lucia novels form a kind of epic portrait of striving gone mad, and it's good to have them appearing once again." -- Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

E. F. Benson (1867-1940) was a prolific novelist, dramatist, short story writer, and biographer. He wrote biographies of Sir Francis Drake, Alcibiades, Ferdinand Magellan, Queen Victoria, and Charlotte Bronte. The son of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and a bit eccentric, he studied archaeology at Kings College, Cambridge, and served as Mayor of Rye near the end of his life.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Moyer Bell and its subsidiaries; First Edition (January 1, 2005)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 277 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1559212322
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1559212328
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.5 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.52 x 0.89 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 333 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Edward Frederick Benson

    Edward Frederick Benson

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  2. Shandonpress

    Shandonpress

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
333 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Jim Nelson
5.0 out of 5 stars The volume is easy to handle while reading in bed
Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2017
Verified Purchase
"Mapp and Lucia" is an engaging, enjoyable read. I recall seeing several episodes of the BBC's "Mapp and Lucia" series on PBS years ago. The book is bringing it all back to me, and introducing these delightful characters to my wife. The volume is easy to handle while reading in bed, and the print font is very easy on the eyes.
4 people found this helpful
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AnnCos
5.0 out of 5 stars Upper Crust Rivalries in Two English Villages
Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2016
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At something like $1.99 for all six Lucia and Mapp novels and several short stories in amazon's e-edition, this collection is the bargain of a lifetime for those who want to read all of the elegantly amusing E.F. Benson books about upper crust rivalries - especially the particularly vicious rivalry between the two women who are the title characters - in two charming English villages between the wars. There is nothing quite like the selfish, vain, and social-climbing twits in these classics, and I loved every minute of the time I spent with them. Benson is a superb writer, a man of great style and wit, and anyone who is looking for light fare, authored by an intelligent hand, need look no farther than his books. The collection got me happily through a very rough recovery after knee surgery. I started with the first book in the collection and read all the way through to the final one. I was very sad to find I'd come to an end and will greatly miss the characters.
14 people found this helpful
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Ian Davidson MacLachlan
4.0 out of 5 stars The Great Depression,
Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2016
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For those of us living in the frantically-busy now, this book is a fascinating window into a time when comfortably-off people had nothing to fill their lives with but what we would now consider trivia and froth. The Great Depression,,memories of the Great War and rhe rise of thre fascist dictators are merely a rumbling background, totally eclipsed by the appearance of a new skirt or the inconsequential squabbles and point scoring that I'll the spaces between tea and bridge. Benson's superbly-drawn characters grow and develop until they fill the pages and readers find themselves absorbed by a spat or a new hat to the total exclusion of the real concerns surrounding them. A splendid literary vacation.
One person found this helpful
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Mary G
5.0 out of 5 stars One of my all-time favorites
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2019
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I've had this book in hard copy for many years and loved it. I read it through every few years. I was delighted to find it for Kindle and have just finished that one. I find the book very entertaining and amusing and I enjoy it each time that I read it.
2 people found this helpful
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Jan Watson
5.0 out of 5 stars Mapp and Lucia
Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2011
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Through Amazon I sent this book to a friend living in Spain. It was delivered safely and is being much enjoyed by the recipient. The book is beautifully written and very funny. It focuses on period village life and the characters are well drawn. I can't remember the names of the actors in the film but one of the characters starred in the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, one was the civil servant in Yes Minister and one was married to Basil in Fawlty Towers.
2 people found this helpful
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Bailey Hampton
3.0 out of 5 stars Witty writing, slow-moving story
Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2017
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The writing is actually quite brilliant, albeit very stiff and Victorian. The turns of phrase and word choices, though, are charming and clever and perfectly selected to suit the time, place & characters of the story. The story, however, is very slow moving. A plot-driven reader is going to find it hard to stick with. I'm enjoying it thoroughly, but it definitely is not going to be to everyone's taste.
One person found this helpful
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Marilyn Heron
5.0 out of 5 stars living in a small town I was amazed at how many of my friends and neighbors appeared ...
Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2017
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As an old lady, living in a small town I was amazed at how many of my friends and neighbors appeared in these stories. Mapp and Lucia became friends with whom I enjoyed spending time . If you have never lived in a small town you may not "get it", but you will find many smiles an more than a few LOL!
5 people found this helpful
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Louisa
5.0 out of 5 stars I always love E. F. Benson’s books
Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2021
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Elizabeth and Lucia are such lively characters! I don’t think one could exist without other and the love/hate relationship between them.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Clare
5.0 out of 5 stars Super condition
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 3, 2023
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Prompt delivery, a compelling holiday read! Lovely condition. Like new. Smelt fresh. Thank you..loved it!
One person found this helpful
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Tyke
5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 29, 2007
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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.
33 people found this helpful
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Quill
4.0 out of 5 stars Witty short stories
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 16, 2023
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The book is full of witty stories from another time. I dip and and out of this book.
One person found this helpful
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Martin Jones
5.0 out of 5 stars A delicious, rippling air
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 3, 2017
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Near the beginning of Mapp and Lucia, a well-to-do lady called Daisy, living an unremarkable life in a picturesque Cotswolds village does her meditation. She tries to attain “a complete blankness of mind and exclude from it all mundane interests, which were Maya, or illusion.” Daisy finds complete blankness difficult to achieve because she is fascinated by her mundane interests, namely the staging of an Elizabethan masque on the village green in the summer of 1929. She finds these things interesting because her friend and rival Lucia has recovered from mourning her lost husband, and is starting to throw herself back into the events of the village with her accustomed vigour. Lucia invests energy into things that otherwise would be empty – theatrics, gossip, faddy exercise, playing Mozart, whatever it might be. Lucia is always ready to teach people things, whether it’s Bridge, musical appreciation, or pretend Italian; but the most important lesson she teaches is to make the most of what you have, no matter what that may be. She lives in a world where a pervading ennui could render gossip and Mozart duets on the piano equally meaningless; but her energy somehow makes them equally meaningful. Early in the book, Mozart represents recovery and healing, the return of life as Lucia recovers from the loss of her husband:

“These were Mozart quartettes arranged for four hands, delicious, rippling airs: it was months since she had touched them, or since the music room had resounded to anything but the most sombre and pensive strains.”

Healing Mozart is not deep and meaningful. In fact, those “rippling airs” are the opposite of such heaviness. Superficiality saves Lucia, protects her from the pain of losing her husband and allows her to enjoy Mozart and life again. The profound resilience that comes from ordinariness vigorously pursued is a great solace for some ordinary reader like me who comes to E.F. Benson for comfort and light relief. Lucia would chivvy such readers along and tell them firstly that nothing is ordinary; and secondly that when things get serious, the ordinariness of life will come along and save you.
2 people found this helpful
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C. Clark
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and timeless
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 20, 2006
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Oh I wish I could get others to read this. It's a small tale of small minded people trying to get one over each other. I can still picture the "Royce" driving up narrow Tilling streets, bumping pedestrians out of the way. I loved it and will read the rest of the series. I'd class this as a "light, easy" read, but obviously well written. Set in 1920's/40's but the date is irrelevant, the people are universally the same - snobs! There's not sex, blood, gore, horror, just tittle-tattle - and mindless tittle-tattle at that. Do please read it caro mio!
5 people found this helpful
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