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The Complete Mapp and Lucia: Volume 2
These three wonderful comic novels drolly record the battle between Lucia and Elisabeth Mapp for social and cultural supremacy in the village of Tilling (based on Rye). Their constant skirmishes ensure that every game of bridge, tea or dinner-party, church service, council meeting or art exhibition are thrilling encounters that ensure Tilling is always on a very agreeable rack of suspense . Both Elisabeth and Lucia are gross hypocrites, snobs and bullies, the huge differences in temperament and style ensure the battle is usually unequal. Elisabeth is incurably mean-spirited and Lucia suffers from splendid delusions of grandeur and personal prestige. Driven by demons of revenge, Elisabeth always acts impulsively, and therefore every revelation of her meanness allows Lucia, the consummate actress, to kill her ally with a sickening kindness. In his insightful Introduction Keith Carabine shows that these books are excruciatingly funny because Benson, like Jane Austen, invites the reader to view the world through the self-deluded chronic anger and jaundiced suspicions of Elisabeth and through the self-deluded fabrications and day-dreams of Lucia. Carabine also concentrates on the novels disturbing, bitchy, camp humour whenever that horrid thing which Freud calls sex is raised .
665 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1927
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135 people want to read
About the author
E.F. Benson
1,026 books356 followersEdward Frederic "E. F." Benson was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist and short story writer.
E. F. Benson was the younger brother of A.C. Benson, who wrote the words to "Land of Hope and Glory", Robert Hugh Benson, author of several novels and Roman Catholic apologetic works, and Margaret Benson, an author and amateur Egyptologist.
Benson died during 1940 of throat cancer at the University College Hospital, London. He is buried in the cemetery at Rye, East Sussex.
Last paragraph from Wikipedia
E. F. Benson was the younger brother of A.C. Benson, who wrote the words to "Land of Hope and Glory", Robert Hugh Benson, author of several novels and Roman Catholic apologetic works, and Margaret Benson, an author and amateur Egyptologist.
Benson died during 1940 of throat cancer at the University College Hospital, London. He is buried in the cemetery at Rye, East Sussex.
Last paragraph from Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
August 28, 2024
My favourite series. I can't think of a less worthy character that I wish good things for than Lucia.
September 17, 2024
Oh how tarsome that the show is over. I could go reading forever about the delicious darlings of Tilling. A bit of Mozartino and Giardino segreto- simply delightful, one must simply join in the fun! By fun this is outright war darlings and all the better because it’s done over tea!
Volume 2 is the FAR better collection compared to 1, this is when the two Queens meet and there is a tete a tete which is jousted across the collection of stories. Just when you think Mapp is at her pinnacle her ego and pride pushes her off and Lucia eagerly clambers aboard the top. These feisty battles involve the genteel class of Tilling too (much like the previous volume) who become involved as ammunition, allies or aperitifs to the two heroines. It is a show that you cannot miss and is so cleverly crafted by Benson that it appears timeless.
What is all the more interesting is the dominance of these two women who are both uniquely tart and so repulsive it turns into a sweet delicacy. The men in the village and in fact the whole book are dominated and overshadowed (quite a few times literally) which makes incredibly interesting to read in terms of a man writing these absolute female powerhouses in the interwar years. Plus, we have to love quaint Irene with her daring paintings and also Georgie with his delightful suits, bibleots, and petite-points. It is honestly such a diverse novel with characters which at first glance appear all the same but then it becomes exposed the quirks and nuances of village life. I feel there is a reflection of Benson in all these characters, obviously the gay Georgie – literally and in the old sense of the word, Lucia as mayor, and the conflict of small-town Tilling or in real life, Rye. This is therefore a highly interesting novel in terms of context (homosexuality in small village life in 1920s Britain, the dying upper class to name a few) but importantly this combines to perform a delightful show which one must simply come and spectate. Long live the Queens!
(I couldn't italicise certain words so imagine the emphasis because there certainly are lots)
Volume 2 is the FAR better collection compared to 1, this is when the two Queens meet and there is a tete a tete which is jousted across the collection of stories. Just when you think Mapp is at her pinnacle her ego and pride pushes her off and Lucia eagerly clambers aboard the top. These feisty battles involve the genteel class of Tilling too (much like the previous volume) who become involved as ammunition, allies or aperitifs to the two heroines. It is a show that you cannot miss and is so cleverly crafted by Benson that it appears timeless.
What is all the more interesting is the dominance of these two women who are both uniquely tart and so repulsive it turns into a sweet delicacy. The men in the village and in fact the whole book are dominated and overshadowed (quite a few times literally) which makes incredibly interesting to read in terms of a man writing these absolute female powerhouses in the interwar years. Plus, we have to love quaint Irene with her daring paintings and also Georgie with his delightful suits, bibleots, and petite-points. It is honestly such a diverse novel with characters which at first glance appear all the same but then it becomes exposed the quirks and nuances of village life. I feel there is a reflection of Benson in all these characters, obviously the gay Georgie – literally and in the old sense of the word, Lucia as mayor, and the conflict of small-town Tilling or in real life, Rye. This is therefore a highly interesting novel in terms of context (homosexuality in small village life in 1920s Britain, the dying upper class to name a few) but importantly this combines to perform a delightful show which one must simply come and spectate. Long live the Queens!
(I couldn't italicise certain words so imagine the emphasis because there certainly are lots)
May 20, 2015
This volume contains three of the novels - Mapp and Lucia, Lucia's Progress and Trouble for Lucia – by E.F. Benson takes the reader to the gossipy and snobby upper-middle England of the 20s and 30s. The humorous incidents that happen when Lucia and Elisabeth Mapp battle for social and cultural supremacy in the village of Tilling will leave you glowing with the ultimate delight of reading a sparkling satire.
September 27, 2024
"but then men don't count for much in Tilling. It's brains that do it."
“Tiresome woman, thought Georgie. If there is a fly anywhere about she is sure to put it in someone’s ointment.”
What is there to say that I did not say in my review of volume 1? The audio performance here is just as good as it was there. Mapp and Lucia continue to entertain. It was fun to see Georgie stand up to Lucia a little in the last volume.
“Tiresome woman, thought Georgie. If there is a fly anywhere about she is sure to put it in someone’s ointment.”
What is there to say that I did not say in my review of volume 1? The audio performance here is just as good as it was there. Mapp and Lucia continue to entertain. It was fun to see Georgie stand up to Lucia a little in the last volume.
February 9, 2012
Delightful story of two women vying for supreme society head. All the other characters wonderfully add to the entire scene. Two women floating out to sea on a table is such a stitch!! Gotta read it. I loved it so much I watched the series on Netflix.
March 26, 2015
An excellent, comic view of small town life that shows even the protagonist in a realistic, unflattering light. Full of laughs!
Want to read
August 26, 2012I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11358862
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11358862
August 9, 2014
Great fun, a real treat.
January 28, 2015
Witty, sparkling social comedy. It is a period piece but not at all dated. I guess that makes it a classic.
March 16, 2018
An excellent read. Would definitely recommend.
July 23, 2017
Not as good as Volume 1. Lucia actually became a little irritating by the end of this.
July 19, 2022
I listened to the audiobook version of this title, read superbly by Georgina Sutton, who brought personality to all of the characters, especially the lead ladies.
Volume One devotes 2 stories to Lucia and 1 to Mapp. From these tales, you honestly don’t know if you like or loathe them! I can honestly say that they, neither of them, have any redeeming qualities! You come away with a great enjoyment of their exploits and an equal determination to never be among either circle of friends.
Volume TWO throws the 2 ladies together for the first time and it starts off fabulously, until…!
That’s where the fun and games begin and also where you start to see their true characters. Elizabeth Mapp is petty, vindictive and spiteful, whereas Emily Lucas is driven, calculating and teachable (just). You see from these new and joint exploits, who learns from any setbacks, who grows from said setbacks and who overcomes, from the same!
The fact that many of these lessons are administered by either lady against the other, or that they cause their friends to either staunchly protect them or flip flop in a dilemma of loyalties, make this a fantastic comedy of society manners!
I’m very, very late to the party, but I’m really thrilled to have discovered these tales, it’s a shame that there are no more.
Volume One devotes 2 stories to Lucia and 1 to Mapp. From these tales, you honestly don’t know if you like or loathe them! I can honestly say that they, neither of them, have any redeeming qualities! You come away with a great enjoyment of their exploits and an equal determination to never be among either circle of friends.
Volume TWO throws the 2 ladies together for the first time and it starts off fabulously, until…!
That’s where the fun and games begin and also where you start to see their true characters. Elizabeth Mapp is petty, vindictive and spiteful, whereas Emily Lucas is driven, calculating and teachable (just). You see from these new and joint exploits, who learns from any setbacks, who grows from said setbacks and who overcomes, from the same!
The fact that many of these lessons are administered by either lady against the other, or that they cause their friends to either staunchly protect them or flip flop in a dilemma of loyalties, make this a fantastic comedy of society manners!
I’m very, very late to the party, but I’m really thrilled to have discovered these tales, it’s a shame that there are no more.
February 10, 2019
Multiple stories of Lucia, the reigning queen of her social circle and Mapp, the busybody, manipulative woman in her small town. At a point, these two headstrong women end up living in the same town where they each work to be Queen Bee. The passive aggressive manipulation is a little tiring. This book may best be read in short bursts.
April 13, 2011
the best
Read
May 29, 2017Gentle but acute social satire of striving upper-middle-class British people.
December 30, 2018
I chose the wrong volume so it's actually Vol. 1 I have just read. Can't wait for my friend to lend me Vol. 2. Very funny and fabulous observation.
Thought Vol. 2 was even funnier. Loved it.
Thought Vol. 2 was even funnier. Loved it.
March 21, 2021
Who knew the goings-on of a small village could be so titillating! Thrilling! Outrageous! Scintillating!
Loved it.
Loved it.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews