Mapp & Lucia

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Summary: A hilarious society war of ladies
Review: I cannot say enough about this adaptation. Prunella Scales produces the voices excellently. For those who do not know Lucia and Mapp - They are Elizabeth mapp and Emmeline Lucas - two ladies whom both consider themselves social queens of the village of Tilling. The ensuing war includes Fete's garden parties dinner parties and climaxes with the crafty Miss mapp attempting to steal the recipe for Lobster ala Reisholme and being caught by Lucia, they are then caught in a flood and whisked out to sea on a kitchen table - it's hilarious when listened to. The conflicts between these two are scarier than Snipes and Stallone in full flow.

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Summary: Heaven help my credit card...
Review: Oover the last fifteen years I have been meaning to read certain authors. H.E. Bates, Anthony Trollope, P.G. Wodehouse, E.F. Benson and the like.

Last week I succumbed to a nasty bout of influenza and E.F. Benson. I had grabbed the slender volume of "Mapp & Lucia" from the library shelf and it had rested in my bookcase for almost a week. Not wanting to dull my brain with endless hours of television, I cracked open "Mapp & Lucia".

Ten pages into the book and I was hooked. Lucia, her period of mourning almost over is looking to regain her iron control on her hometown. First action, regain her star role as Queen Elizabeth in the village fete.

As I read Lucia's plots and plans, a strange thought hit me. Lucia is the creature Hyacinth Bucket (the main character of the BBC's Keeping Up Appearances) secretly dreams of being. Having taken over the fete from her dazed and confused friend, Lucia goes onto greater pastures, the hometown of Miss Elizabeth Mapp, reigning social goddesss.

Miss Elizabeth Mapp (known as Mapp) plots with her friends to rent out their respective homes a profit. Lucia and her best friend (a gentleman who brings to mind a cross between KUA's Richard and AYBS Mr Humphries) move and slowly begin to take over the town. Mapp is not pleased and a genteel war of one-upsmanship begins between the two ladies.

Drawings are rejected from the art exhibit, parties given, ownership of produce and fruit desputed with the poor town in the middle. Matters come to a head on Boxing Day (December 26) when Mapp decides to steal a longed for recipe that Lucia refuses to give to her.

Lucia stumbles on her rival in the kitchen and both women are swept out to sea on Lucia's kitchen table (yes, Lucia's kitchen table, this is a not a mis-type). The town mourns the two ladies as lost and the Great War of Mapp-Lucia as over.

Okay, enough said. You'll have to succumb to the collective charms of the ladies Mapp and Lucia yourself and find out all the bits I've left out. Now, I'm off hunt down and read the rest of E.F. Benson's wonderful books.

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Summary: Mapp and Lucia: Napoleons of the Tea Room
Review: This is the first book I've read in E.F. Benson's "Lucia" series, and it is fun-filled ride indeed. For Benson novices, Lucia Lucas is a middle aged, recently widowed (in this novel), perfectly nice upper middle class woman who just happens to have the mind of Machavelli. Missing her obvious calling for World Domination, she is instead content to rule the social life of her small English village with an iron fist. As "Mapp and Lucia" begins however, Lucia has long since deposed any serious threat to her social dominance in her immediate vicinity, and decides fresher pastures are in order. She packs up her things (including , of course, best friend and right-hand-man Georgie) and moves to Tilling, where she expects she will be made society Queen in no time flat. Unfortunately for Lucia, Tilling already has a Queen, one Elizabeth Mapp, and she has no intention of relinquishing her crown.

The scene is thus set for a true Battle Royal, only in Tilling the battelfields are luncheons and dinner parties, and the weapons fruit gardens and lobster recipes. The results are very very funny, as the genteel of Tilling spend a breathless year thoroughly enjoying each swipe, snub and put down. The hilarious climax has our heroines floating out to sea on an overturned kitchen table, with Lucia's last audible words promising delicious gossip just as soon as she gets out of her current mess.

Benson draws his characters exquisitely well, I found myself flat out liking her. She is an Englishwomen of the 1930's, past her prime but still youthful, who just happens to be blessed (cursed?) with the personality of an Alpha Male. The resulting battle of wits with the formidable Mapp is fascinating; Mapp is clearly not her intellectual equal but through a mixture of deviousness and and cunning manages to pull the carpet from underneath Lucia's carefully laid plans time and again. The supporting characters are equally well written, with best friend Georgie and Mapp's crony Diva especially amusing.

All in all, a funny, entertaining and biting satire that is well worth reading whether you are already a Lucia fan or are picking up a Benson novel for the first time. Highly recommended!

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Summary: Best of the series
Review: This is the highlight of the series, pitting Lucia against her less able, but equally ruthless counterpart, Elizabeth Mapp - two ladies who both consider themselves social queens of the village of Tilling. The ensuing war includes Fete's garden parties dinner parties and climaxes with the crafty Miss Mapp attempting to steal the recipe for Lobster ala Reisholme and being caught by Lucia, they are then caught in a flood and whisked out to sea on a kitchen table. Oh my!

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Summary: Ladylike Battles of Social Supremacy
Review: This popular tale is a delight even 70 years later. The reader gets to know very well the primary characters in this social comedy. Benson does a superb job of describing the genteel battles between the two ladies in Tilling,concerning Lucia's much coveted lobster recipe, and invitations to dine. The men are, of course, secondary to the plot.They hover around the ladies like courtiers. I think that Georgie, Lucia's devoted and platonic friend, is my favorite character-perhaps the most genuinely nice person in the book. I sometimes even feel sorry for Miss Mapp when Lucia takes over social affairs so thoroughly! I wonder what would happen if Lucia and Miss Mapp were both interested in Major Benjy!