The Mapp and Lucia Novels

In the picturesque village of Riseholme Mrs Emmeline Lucas, known as Lucia, reigns supreme. Her regular performances of the ‘Moonlight’ Sonata (‘Lucia’s tune, just as “God Save the King” was the King’s tune’), her pretty Italian phrases and silvery laugh – not to mention her sheer power of will and ‘Napoleonic eye for detail’ – have made her undisputed Queen of Riseholme.

When she takes a house in the charming town of Tilling, it seems Lucia may have met her match. For here rules Miss Mapp, arch-schemer and deliciously manipulative doyenne, who notes her neighbours’ every movement. Between Mapp and Lucia, a magnificently funny struggle for social supremacy ensues. Illicit garden fetes, Lobster à la Riseholme, rival rubbers of bridge and even reputed drownings at sea … Tilling has never seen such excitement.

Both Mapp and Lucia are instantly recognisable as archetypes of village life. Social autocrats with rhinoceros hides, whose pretensions and egomania know no bounds, in the hands of E. F. Benson they become comic delights. Small wonder that the books were instantly hailed as classics, drawing praise from literary giants as well as finding fans across the world.