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Mapp & Lucia #6
Trouble for Lucia
In Trouble for Lucia, Lucia learns to ride a bicycle, and we live through the saga of Blue Birdie (Mrs. Wyse's dead budgerigar [parakeet] invoked in a seance). Lucia and Georgie renew their acquaintance with the operatic diva Olga Braceley and the composer Cortese, but nobody in Tilling believes her when she claims to have entertained a duchess overnight. Lucia becomes Mayor of Tilling and Miss Mapp is appointed her Mayoress. This is the sixth volume in the Lucia Series.
231 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1939
About the author
E.F. Benson
856 books324 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 - 30 of 79 reviews
May 21, 2020
Darlings, you simply must witness the Mayoral Melee in Tilling! Watch in delight as Rome burns and Co-Empresses Lucia and Mapp fiddle away. And with such zeal, such zest! This finale will be your final opportunity to enjoy these razor-witted human lawn darts in stiff competition against each other, and against the rest of Tilling, and against all notions of good sense and human decency. Yes, darlings, we have come to the end of Benson's Mapp & Lucia Saga!
E.F. Benson finishes his 6-book poison pen letter to English village life with a squeak and whimper rather than an unseemly roar. He presents to his devoted readers not a devastating conflagration but instead a colorful yet still deadly easy-bake oven. 'Tis sad but only fitting: the Mapp & Lucia novels, despite the perfection of a couple books and the near-perfection of three more, were always a minor affair. Brittle constructions. Dainty old knick-knacks arranged on an aunt's shelf that you may long to sweep aside and smash underfoot, but you know will eventually be packaged up carefully and perhaps sold at a public market, or stored in a dusty attic or damp basement. But don't smash those cherished antiques - they still retain value!
Benson was clearly, as the hoi polloi say, "over it" when he wrote this volume. Despite the potentially momentous tragicomedy of a duel between Queen and Queen, Mayor vs. Mayoress, he instead chose to ramble a bit and rework old bits, as if he were perhaps a bit bored with his monstrous adult-sized cabbage patch kids. His formerly comic confection Georgie - now the Mayoral Consort and still cutting a striking figure in a ruby-colored velvet suit - is less a figure of fun and more of an author stand-in. Poor Georgie is rather bored now of all of Lucia and Mapp's royal antics. Alas, boredom will strike us all at some point! Could it be the inevitable default and terminus of the human condition? We shudder and perhaps perish at the thought.
But darlings, I do hate to end on such a plaintive, pathos-ridden minor note myself. The book is still a worthy creation, a painless slip-n-slide that you can glide merrily upon while fully dressed. Even a Benson who is rather bored and at his most in need of a nap on the garden room chaise and then perhaps some light refreshment with friends after, is still a Benson who is a raconteur of the first form. Although the first five novels in the series can be enjoyed at any time and at any place and in any state of mind - as long as that mind is poisonous and petty, like mine - the sixth can be enjoyed as well. But perhaps it should be enjoyed after tossing back a generous flute of champagne. Better yet, the whole bottle. Why not? Everything is better with champagne! Indeed, these novels are the literary equivalent: fizzy and light, sparkling and fun, and an absolutely necessary dietary supplement for bored dilettantes, society climbers, gossipy matrons, provincial Karens, and every other sort of malicious, self-absorbed queen. Ah the pretty-ugly things. Lucia & Mapp are the queens of such queens!
E.F. Benson finishes his 6-book poison pen letter to English village life with a squeak and whimper rather than an unseemly roar. He presents to his devoted readers not a devastating conflagration but instead a colorful yet still deadly easy-bake oven. 'Tis sad but only fitting: the Mapp & Lucia novels, despite the perfection of a couple books and the near-perfection of three more, were always a minor affair. Brittle constructions. Dainty old knick-knacks arranged on an aunt's shelf that you may long to sweep aside and smash underfoot, but you know will eventually be packaged up carefully and perhaps sold at a public market, or stored in a dusty attic or damp basement. But don't smash those cherished antiques - they still retain value!
Benson was clearly, as the hoi polloi say, "over it" when he wrote this volume. Despite the potentially momentous tragicomedy of a duel between Queen and Queen, Mayor vs. Mayoress, he instead chose to ramble a bit and rework old bits, as if he were perhaps a bit bored with his monstrous adult-sized cabbage patch kids. His formerly comic confection Georgie - now the Mayoral Consort and still cutting a striking figure in a ruby-colored velvet suit - is less a figure of fun and more of an author stand-in. Poor Georgie is rather bored now of all of Lucia and Mapp's royal antics. Alas, boredom will strike us all at some point! Could it be the inevitable default and terminus of the human condition? We shudder and perhaps perish at the thought.
But darlings, I do hate to end on such a plaintive, pathos-ridden minor note myself. The book is still a worthy creation, a painless slip-n-slide that you can glide merrily upon while fully dressed. Even a Benson who is rather bored and at his most in need of a nap on the garden room chaise and then perhaps some light refreshment with friends after, is still a Benson who is a raconteur of the first form. Although the first five novels in the series can be enjoyed at any time and at any place and in any state of mind - as long as that mind is poisonous and petty, like mine - the sixth can be enjoyed as well. But perhaps it should be enjoyed after tossing back a generous flute of champagne. Better yet, the whole bottle. Why not? Everything is better with champagne! Indeed, these novels are the literary equivalent: fizzy and light, sparkling and fun, and an absolutely necessary dietary supplement for bored dilettantes, society climbers, gossipy matrons, provincial Karens, and every other sort of malicious, self-absorbed queen. Ah the pretty-ugly things. Lucia & Mapp are the queens of such queens!
July 8, 2021
I don’t write reviews.
I can’t believe the series is finished!! Even the last story felt as if it could have continued indefinitely. I know some other writer picked up the characters from this point, but I’m not sure of the consistency.
Lucia ends up (only due to philanthropy) becoming the mayor of Tilling. Her Worship throws herself into it - all gusto and vigour. Unfortunately for her, the position is merely a symbolic one. That doesn’t stop her from being an extremely busy and dedicated public servant. Sadly, this alienates Georgie and annoys Mapp to no end.
Bicycling finds its place as the leisure choice of the upper class. Quaint Irenie finally makes her mark on the world of art. Olga Bracely returns for a little while. Diva opens a tea shoppe in her home. And much, much more.
This is a wonderful series which has brought me much joy.
I can’t believe the series is finished!! Even the last story felt as if it could have continued indefinitely. I know some other writer picked up the characters from this point, but I’m not sure of the consistency.
Lucia ends up (only due to philanthropy) becoming the mayor of Tilling. Her Worship throws herself into it - all gusto and vigour. Unfortunately for her, the position is merely a symbolic one. That doesn’t stop her from being an extremely busy and dedicated public servant. Sadly, this alienates Georgie and annoys Mapp to no end.
Bicycling finds its place as the leisure choice of the upper class. Quaint Irenie finally makes her mark on the world of art. Olga Bracely returns for a little while. Diva opens a tea shoppe in her home. And much, much more.
This is a wonderful series which has brought me much joy.
July 18, 2009
Final one of the six books in this series. I somehow ploughed through the collective 1800 pages or so in a couple of weeks - they go fast and are entertaining. Summarizing the actual plot seems pointless, but I am still fascinated by the little details which situate the conservative small-town characters in the changing wider world around them. At one point in this volume, after a particularly busy and not very successful day of social climbing, the central character thinks back on everything she undertook - "Quite like that huge horrid book by Mr. James Joyce, which all happens in one day," she reflected, as she stepped out of the car.
September 16, 2014
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 29, 2023
This is the last of the Mapp and Lucia books, and E.F. Benson is to be applauded for not having given into any impulse to have either of the lead characters learn or grow in any way. Both end as they began: shallow, petty, self-aggrandising, willing to elbow anyone aside for the slightest sliver of social advantage. There are some deliciously awful moments in Trouble for Lucia, but I do think Benson was right to end it here—this read more like an accumulation of "and then, and then" moments than any kind of narrative, and it felt as if he'd run out of things to say about the inhabitants of Tilling.
March 14, 2018
Still 5 stars - no matter what the situation, no matter how cringe-worthy the embarrassment, Lucia prevails!
This final Benson Lucia novel finds Lucia facing possible social ruin - she’s been elected mayor of Tilling and may finally have reached the end of her reign as self-elected Queen of Tilling society. Has she finally gotten too big for her britches? Will her supreme snobbishness finally be rebuffed?
I love these novels - like Thirkell’s Barsetshire novels, nothing really happens, it’s all about the characters; these are far more snarky than Thirkell’s novels, and maybe that’s why I love them. Long live Lucia - I’ve treasured rereading her over the last year or so, and won’t let so much time pass before I visit her again. Delicious!
This final Benson Lucia novel finds Lucia facing possible social ruin - she’s been elected mayor of Tilling and may finally have reached the end of her reign as self-elected Queen of Tilling society. Has she finally gotten too big for her britches? Will her supreme snobbishness finally be rebuffed?
I love these novels - like Thirkell’s Barsetshire novels, nothing really happens, it’s all about the characters; these are far more snarky than Thirkell’s novels, and maybe that’s why I love them. Long live Lucia - I’ve treasured rereading her over the last year or so, and won’t let so much time pass before I visit her again. Delicious!
June 14, 2021
It's with a certain sadness I finish the last of Benson's Lucia novels, not for the finishing itself as I can, and will, re-read them, but because the intimations of growth I thought I saw in Lucia's character in the previous two books came to naught.
If Olga Bracely and Miss Mapp represent the better and worse aspects of Lucia's character, then, like Georgie, I'm more attracted to her in the former, and repelled by her in the latter mode.
Crediting Benson with knowing what he was doing, Lucia is ultimately shown to be a weak and vain person who tries but fails to rise above her petty, self-centred vindictiveness, and whose airs of being The Champion of the Poor are founded in hollow self-aggrandisement, along with the social stratum she represents. Benson's choice to make the satirical point was, it's sadly clear, prophetic given the subsequent course of social & world events,
but leaves us (well, me, at least) with a diminished Lucia.
I do hold out hope for Lucia, though, as she has shown herself amenable to influence from two benignant sources: the gossipy, but ultimately kind-hearted, Georgie Pillson, and the irreverent and unaffected Quaint Irene. I cross my fingers in hope of Lucia's redemption, and of those she represents.
I have the Tom Holt continuations, and hope that perhaps he takes things in that direction.
If Olga Bracely and Miss Mapp represent the better and worse aspects of Lucia's character, then, like Georgie, I'm more attracted to her in the former, and repelled by her in the latter mode.
Crediting Benson with knowing what he was doing, Lucia is ultimately shown to be a weak and vain person who tries but fails to rise above her petty, self-centred vindictiveness, and whose airs of being The Champion of the Poor are founded in hollow self-aggrandisement, along with the social stratum she represents. Benson's choice to make the satirical point was, it's sadly clear, prophetic given the subsequent course of social & world events,
but leaves us (well, me, at least) with a diminished Lucia.
I do hold out hope for Lucia, though, as she has shown herself amenable to influence from two benignant sources: the gossipy, but ultimately kind-hearted, Georgie Pillson, and the irreverent and unaffected Quaint Irene. I cross my fingers in hope of Lucia's redemption, and of those she represents.
I have the Tom Holt continuations, and hope that perhaps he takes things in that direction.
September 10, 2018
A good end to the series - as the title says, Lucia runs into some trouble in Tilling & with Georgie Pillson but, ever indomitable, she rises to the crisis.
December 27, 2018
In need of a comic aberration? Do admit--.
Profuse literatus EF Benson, author of countless novels,
ends his 6-series "Lucia" revue w this vintage petit point.
Benson cocks an ear as bossy, annoying, horribly energetic Lucia battles another suburbanite for social supremacy in ye wee English town. The crises, involving gardening, pets, bridge, bikes, choir, home entertaining, are harmless, but always fraught w intrigue. (It's why some of us fled family).
This is their high-toned life. Benson makes it bracing; still, the biggest "B" of all is bickering.
Lucia's aide-de-camp is platonic husby Georgie who owns a ruby-colored suit, wears a toup and consoles hisself w embroidery. Their duet is not sullied by "that horrid thing which Freud calls sex." Tots? Puhllleze : "Children are so sticky, especially after tea."
Lucia is a platter of jam puffs. You should know when to stop, but you bend to adorabile Signora - who fractures Italio - and gobble another raspberry something. Forego Lucia? Extravagant nonsense. Auberon Waugh trickled, "It is not a risk anyone should take lightly."
Profuse literatus EF Benson, author of countless novels,
ends his 6-series "Lucia" revue w this vintage petit point.
Benson cocks an ear as bossy, annoying, horribly energetic Lucia battles another suburbanite for social supremacy in ye wee English town. The crises, involving gardening, pets, bridge, bikes, choir, home entertaining, are harmless, but always fraught w intrigue. (It's why some of us fled family).
This is their high-toned life. Benson makes it bracing; still, the biggest "B" of all is bickering.
Lucia's aide-de-camp is platonic husby Georgie who owns a ruby-colored suit, wears a toup and consoles hisself w embroidery. Their duet is not sullied by "that horrid thing which Freud calls sex." Tots? Puhllleze : "Children are so sticky, especially after tea."
Lucia is a platter of jam puffs. You should know when to stop, but you bend to adorabile Signora - who fractures Italio - and gobble another raspberry something. Forego Lucia? Extravagant nonsense. Auberon Waugh trickled, "It is not a risk anyone should take lightly."
August 27, 2013
These books wouldn't be as much fun if any of the characters ever had sex.
August 30, 2016
Endlessly delightful.
July 1, 2011
Ah, the long visit to the villages of Riseholme and Tilling are over as I finish the 6th book in E. F. Benson's "Lucia" novels. I enjoyed all of these stories about these odd characters and the things they do to fill their days with back-biting, two-faced politeness, manipulations, power struggles, penny-pinching, extravagance, prevaricating (yes, even lying) playing bridge, having tea, making music, painting and walking the main streets daily to shop and gossip. It reminds me a little of the Cranford stories that were recently done on PBS, (I found myself picturing some of the PBS actors of those period dramas) except that I can not think of a single character in these novels that is truly admirable.
There is no real plot to these stories, but rather there is continuous plotting through an on-going movement from one event to another with a view to how each character reacts to each event. There is something amazing about how E.F. Benson could put together such enjoyable tales to keep you reading, even as you are slack-jawed at the atrocious behaviors of the characters. There is no obvious profound truth to be gleaned, no psychological eye-opener, no political message and nor even judgement to be pronounced. It is simply leisure reading, and yes, I'd say it was fun. You put aside disbelief that such people could exists together in a single community, as you would in a fantasy novel, and wonder what could each character possibly get up to next as you turn to each succeeding page. Although Lucia was always the central character, I felt that I got to know each of the other characters and found some empathy for each of them. My favorite character was Georgie Pillson.
Trouble for Lucia was a satisfying conclusion to this series of novels, but somehow I feel that the characters go on and on in their odd little lives, and it's a shame that the chronicles had to come to an end.
One note on the paperback copy I have: it was a used book and an older publication, and the pages snapped loose from the cover. I don't know if there are newer releases. Also, I think I'd like to hear an audiobook version..
There is no real plot to these stories, but rather there is continuous plotting through an on-going movement from one event to another with a view to how each character reacts to each event. There is something amazing about how E.F. Benson could put together such enjoyable tales to keep you reading, even as you are slack-jawed at the atrocious behaviors of the characters. There is no obvious profound truth to be gleaned, no psychological eye-opener, no political message and nor even judgement to be pronounced. It is simply leisure reading, and yes, I'd say it was fun. You put aside disbelief that such people could exists together in a single community, as you would in a fantasy novel, and wonder what could each character possibly get up to next as you turn to each succeeding page. Although Lucia was always the central character, I felt that I got to know each of the other characters and found some empathy for each of them. My favorite character was Georgie Pillson.
Trouble for Lucia was a satisfying conclusion to this series of novels, but somehow I feel that the characters go on and on in their odd little lives, and it's a shame that the chronicles had to come to an end.
One note on the paperback copy I have: it was a used book and an older publication, and the pages snapped loose from the cover. I don't know if there are newer releases. Also, I think I'd like to hear an audiobook version..
January 10, 2017
(This was a shared read with Donald. We've been working our way through the Lucia series together. I've read all of them once before, on my own.)
I'm not sure what it is about this series, but I love it. This is not my favorite of the series, but I still enjoyed it very much, on the whole, and as the final book of the six, it's certainly well worth reading.
I've seen the Lucia books described as shallow and populated with mean-spirited characters. True, they're not challenging masterpieces-- nor stepping stones on the path to true enlightenment-- and the characters are certainly only too eager to gossip about one another, but there is something intensely human and pleasant about this series! Nothing of any importance ever happens, and that, apparently, is just fine with me. It's enough that it entertains me and warms my heart.
The book (and with it, the series) comes to an end rather abruptly, with little warning. But perhaps that's as it should be. There's no big climax, because that's just not how these stories work. I like to imagine the funny, gossipy circle of "friends" continuing on in more or less the same way, forever.
I'm sad to come to the conclusion of the series again... They are such cozy books! There have been several more volumes written by a few different authors. The little I've read about them suggests that they're a mixed bag. Some sound awful (to be honest), but others might be worth a read. ...The more I think of it, though, the more I wonder if it might be better to stick with the originals, after all. Maybe I'll try the "continuations" someday, but probably not immediately.
I'm not sure what it is about this series, but I love it. This is not my favorite of the series, but I still enjoyed it very much, on the whole, and as the final book of the six, it's certainly well worth reading.
I've seen the Lucia books described as shallow and populated with mean-spirited characters. True, they're not challenging masterpieces-- nor stepping stones on the path to true enlightenment-- and the characters are certainly only too eager to gossip about one another, but there is something intensely human and pleasant about this series! Nothing of any importance ever happens, and that, apparently, is just fine with me. It's enough that it entertains me and warms my heart.
The book (and with it, the series) comes to an end rather abruptly, with little warning. But perhaps that's as it should be. There's no big climax, because that's just not how these stories work. I like to imagine the funny, gossipy circle of "friends" continuing on in more or less the same way, forever.
I'm sad to come to the conclusion of the series again... They are such cozy books! There have been several more volumes written by a few different authors. The little I've read about them suggests that they're a mixed bag. Some sound awful (to be honest), but others might be worth a read. ...The more I think of it, though, the more I wonder if it might be better to stick with the originals, after all. Maybe I'll try the "continuations" someday, but probably not immediately.
July 10, 2014
This is the first Mapp & Lucia volume I have read in the sequence of books. I did see the Television series many years ago and from what I remember, the characters in this book are far better presented and the humour more effective. Of course, I have started the volumes at the wrong end--this being the final volume Benson wrote--but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. The ending, perhaps, is rather abrupt and there are some occasions when the humour seemed rather forced. I found the character of the painter, Irene, annoying as she combined a thoroughly nasty streak with an adulation of Lucia. Still, her paintings added a significant element to the comedy.
I now plan to continue the series in the proper sequence and have little doubt but that I will find the books very enjoyable.
I now plan to continue the series in the proper sequence and have little doubt but that I will find the books very enjoyable.
May 31, 2007
This particular Lucia novel may not be my favorite of Benson's series, but when I've read (or re-read) one of these books, I feel that I absolutely need to have more. It is definitely the potato chip syndrome at work.
Lucia is certainly not everyone's idea of a heroine, but I love the way she saves the day over and over again in her village. She annoys and bullies her friends, but she makes life interesting and that's good enough for me.
Bravo! Lucia.
Lucia is certainly not everyone's idea of a heroine, but I love the way she saves the day over and over again in her village. She annoys and bullies her friends, but she makes life interesting and that's good enough for me.
Bravo! Lucia.
September 6, 2013
Amusing but not as good as the earlier Lucia books. A bit like TV shows, that are kept going one series or so too long.
July 16, 2017
Sadly, the last of the Mapp and Lucia books, (by E F Benson, anyway) I will miss them. I have very much enjoyed my visits to Risholme and Tilling.
December 25, 2023
Lucia is Mayor of Tilling, the first woman mayor; but she’s told all mayors have mayoresses…I think, hubby Georgie should so be. But no, too soon, 1939, for such gender equity. Candidates for that assault her and Georgie, who begins the novel needle-pointing Lucia’s mayoral gloves. (My wife’s mother needlepointed two wonderful chairs before she died, so my wife and I tried to, completing about 4” square before we gave up in a couple weeks.)
Chapter 2 sees Georgie’s new red velvet suit arrive, the same color as a woman’s dress; another man, Mr Wyse, has a new blue velvet suit. Together “the two looked like two middle-aged male mannequins”(p. 43*).
Benson tells what his novel’s about when Georgie’s harried by the Mayor, out of his leisure that “gave one time to feel so thrilled an interest in the minute happenings of the day”(145, ch 7). This, Lucia’s meticr, “to render the trivialities of life intense for others.”
Leisure, time provide that “eager fount.”
Tilling boasts: a new tea room hosted by Diva, an artist who's nude Venus on the half-shell mural is rejected by the Town Council, Bengy Mapp who hunted tigers in India and his wife Elizabeth, Lucia's rival whom she drafts as Mayoress, to keep her in line. Susan prophesies with a shrine including Blue Birdie (that she'd sat on), so she puts up a painting of St Francis preaching to the birds"(114). (In my Conversations with Birds, I maintain the birds preached to St Francis about God.)
Georgie's old flame Olga now a famed opera singer, returns from tour, invites them to Covent Garden, where large "Your Grace" joins the guest stage box with small hubby [find out the Duke and Duchess of Sheffield]--Lucia presumes, married as "they took no notice of each other"(179). Next we find out "Marriage with Lucia might be regarded as a vow of celibacy." Lucia, booted by the Duchess, thinks of home, Olga singing to Georgie in the garden-room, such a long day with "enough material for another huge horrid book by Mr James Joyce that all happens in one day [Ulysses]"(210). Quite a literary critique.
Elizabeth's painting, fond of misty mornings, because they "prohibit draughtmanship"(230).
The holiday/ vacation months are later, August and September (237). We learn quite late that Georgie is the "tall man" with a VanDyck beard (254).
I share some of Georgie’s experience, cycling “down the cobbles” from his Mallards House, “turning onto the smooth tarmac of the High St”(131). Here, New Bedford, MA has cobbles on its oldest streets-- plenty resounding on old car tires. Also, like Georgie, I wear a tam-o-shanter, though his is blue, and mine a red robertson. Benson delights by calling the first couple bicycle riding “pioneers,” as elsewhere, “atheletes.”
As with all British books, many words differ, like "torch" for flashlight and “bibelots” for trinkets, but some exactly as we would say ‘em, like drunken Maj. Benjy’s “wo’ll you do next,” for “what’ll”(149).
Trouble for Lucia
*Pagination from the Heinneman (London, 1968) hardback edition.
Chapter 2 sees Georgie’s new red velvet suit arrive, the same color as a woman’s dress; another man, Mr Wyse, has a new blue velvet suit. Together “the two looked like two middle-aged male mannequins”(p. 43*).
Benson tells what his novel’s about when Georgie’s harried by the Mayor, out of his leisure that “gave one time to feel so thrilled an interest in the minute happenings of the day”(145, ch 7). This, Lucia’s meticr, “to render the trivialities of life intense for others.”
Leisure, time provide that “eager fount.”
Tilling boasts: a new tea room hosted by Diva, an artist who's nude Venus on the half-shell mural is rejected by the Town Council, Bengy Mapp who hunted tigers in India and his wife Elizabeth, Lucia's rival whom she drafts as Mayoress, to keep her in line. Susan prophesies with a shrine including Blue Birdie (that she'd sat on), so she puts up a painting of St Francis preaching to the birds"(114). (In my Conversations with Birds, I maintain the birds preached to St Francis about God.)
Georgie's old flame Olga now a famed opera singer, returns from tour, invites them to Covent Garden, where large "Your Grace" joins the guest stage box with small hubby [find out the Duke and Duchess of Sheffield]--Lucia presumes, married as "they took no notice of each other"(179). Next we find out "Marriage with Lucia might be regarded as a vow of celibacy." Lucia, booted by the Duchess, thinks of home, Olga singing to Georgie in the garden-room, such a long day with "enough material for another huge horrid book by Mr James Joyce that all happens in one day [Ulysses]"(210). Quite a literary critique.
Elizabeth's painting, fond of misty mornings, because they "prohibit draughtmanship"(230).
The holiday/ vacation months are later, August and September (237). We learn quite late that Georgie is the "tall man" with a VanDyck beard (254).
I share some of Georgie’s experience, cycling “down the cobbles” from his Mallards House, “turning onto the smooth tarmac of the High St”(131). Here, New Bedford, MA has cobbles on its oldest streets-- plenty resounding on old car tires. Also, like Georgie, I wear a tam-o-shanter, though his is blue, and mine a red robertson. Benson delights by calling the first couple bicycle riding “pioneers,” as elsewhere, “atheletes.”
As with all British books, many words differ, like "torch" for flashlight and “bibelots” for trinkets, but some exactly as we would say ‘em, like drunken Maj. Benjy’s “wo’ll you do next,” for “what’ll”(149).
Trouble for Lucia
*Pagination from the Heinneman (London, 1968) hardback edition.
July 25, 2020
I finally made it to the end of the Mapp and Lucia novels!
This final installment begins, "Lucia Pillson, the mayor elect of Tilling, and her husband Georgie were talking together..." Yes, that's right. Mrs. Emmeline Lucas has finally married Georgie, the gossip-loving, vain, embroidering companion who has been her closest friend since Queen Lucia. And Lucia has finally become the mayor of Tilling, having climbed to the highest rung on the social ladder there.
The book has an enjoyable series of episodes with familiar characters--Elizabeth Mapp-Flint and her husband Benjy are determined to unseat Lucia for importance. Diva, who speaks in telegraphic sentences, has opened a tea shop. Quaint Irene is painting satirical portraits. Mrs. Wyse still has her enormous car drive her through the narrow streets, and the Padre (with his faux Scottish accent) pops into various moments.
As Lucia tries to relish her position as mayor, she soon finds obstacles to her grand ideas and fears losing her influence over the many spheres of life that she tries to control. There are also rumblings of concern when opera singer Olga Bracely, newly single, resurfaces and reconnects with Georgie.
The book is an amusing and satisfying end to the series. It doesn't end with any grand explosions or sudden twists, but it leaves readers in a place where it's a comfortable end and all is right with Lucia's world.
Who should read this book: anyone who's made it up to The Worshipful Lucia. If you've made it that far, you might as well read to the end.
This final installment begins, "Lucia Pillson, the mayor elect of Tilling, and her husband Georgie were talking together..." Yes, that's right. Mrs. Emmeline Lucas has finally married Georgie, the gossip-loving, vain, embroidering companion who has been her closest friend since Queen Lucia. And Lucia has finally become the mayor of Tilling, having climbed to the highest rung on the social ladder there.
The book has an enjoyable series of episodes with familiar characters--Elizabeth Mapp-Flint and her husband Benjy are determined to unseat Lucia for importance. Diva, who speaks in telegraphic sentences, has opened a tea shop. Quaint Irene is painting satirical portraits. Mrs. Wyse still has her enormous car drive her through the narrow streets, and the Padre (with his faux Scottish accent) pops into various moments.
As Lucia tries to relish her position as mayor, she soon finds obstacles to her grand ideas and fears losing her influence over the many spheres of life that she tries to control. There are also rumblings of concern when opera singer Olga Bracely, newly single, resurfaces and reconnects with Georgie.
The book is an amusing and satisfying end to the series. It doesn't end with any grand explosions or sudden twists, but it leaves readers in a place where it's a comfortable end and all is right with Lucia's world.
Who should read this book: anyone who's made it up to The Worshipful Lucia. If you've made it that far, you might as well read to the end.
January 26, 2021
This is the sixth and final volume in E.F. Benson’s wonderful series of comedic stories about snobbery and one-upmanship in 20’s and 30’s England. It contains spoilers.
This book was published in 1939, and perhaps the reason it is the last one in the series is that the world began to change so monumentally later that year that the author felt his world, of Tilling and Riseholme, were gone forever.
At the beginning of this book Lucia has been elected Mayor of Tilling but has not yet assumed office, and it is her mayoral duties that form the basis for all the episodes that ensue. Lucia is not shy about promoting herself or her achievements, and she loves to lord it over her friends and neighbours – in a most kindly (bitchy?) and polite way, of course. She can be generous to a fault, as long as she will gain some kudos or some other personal advantage. This does not extend to financial matters – Lucia is as honest as the day is long and has honesty and integrity – in terms of obeying the law, anyway.
Her ability to abide by the law is, however, tested in a small way in one chapter, once she and her husband Georgie take up bicycling.
Other changes that come to Tilling are Diva’s opening a tea shop, a treasured article of Major Benjy’s becoming lost, and ‘Quaint Irene’ paints two portraits that cause difficulties. Some new faces appear, including a duchess who causes some problems for Lucia, out of which she finds it difficult to talk her way.
This book is up to the standard set by previous ones in the series, although occasionally I (think how poor Georgie feels!) sometimes found all the mayoral duties talk ‘tarsome’.
Beautifully written and a treat to read.
This book was published in 1939, and perhaps the reason it is the last one in the series is that the world began to change so monumentally later that year that the author felt his world, of Tilling and Riseholme, were gone forever.
At the beginning of this book Lucia has been elected Mayor of Tilling but has not yet assumed office, and it is her mayoral duties that form the basis for all the episodes that ensue. Lucia is not shy about promoting herself or her achievements, and she loves to lord it over her friends and neighbours – in a most kindly (bitchy?) and polite way, of course. She can be generous to a fault, as long as she will gain some kudos or some other personal advantage. This does not extend to financial matters – Lucia is as honest as the day is long and has honesty and integrity – in terms of obeying the law, anyway.
Her ability to abide by the law is, however, tested in a small way in one chapter, once she and her husband Georgie take up bicycling.
Other changes that come to Tilling are Diva’s opening a tea shop, a treasured article of Major Benjy’s becoming lost, and ‘Quaint Irene’ paints two portraits that cause difficulties. Some new faces appear, including a duchess who causes some problems for Lucia, out of which she finds it difficult to talk her way.
This book is up to the standard set by previous ones in the series, although occasionally I (think how poor Georgie feels!) sometimes found all the mayoral duties talk ‘tarsome’.
Beautifully written and a treat to read.
November 30, 2022
My one star rating is for the entire Lucia-Mapp series of 6 books, which I have spent the last four months reading (with other books read in between each installment...couldn't take it all at once). The series came highly recommended and I was expecting it to be very funny. But the women in the series are largely portrayed as Queen Bees...silly, vengeful, lying, scheming, pretentious bores living in a couple of small English villages between the two World Wars. The men in the novels don't fare much better. No visible means of support, but everyone seems to have a maid, cook and chauffeur. A Rolls or a Daimler. OK, that was life for the British upper middle class back in the day. And that life can be delightfully funny, in the right hands, e.g., Nancy Mitford. But not in this case. At least not for me. Page after page of woman-on-woman social revenge gets old. Perhaps I am also bothered by the fact that the author was a man...he must have had a very low opinion of women to write these books. At any rate, I cannot recommend this 700+ page series. Although I love British humor, I think this series is way out of date. A little Lucia goes a long, long way.
July 6, 2019
Trouble for Lucia indeed! What an endless series of intrigues, secrets building on top of secrets, and for the first time Lucia's shaking in her boots. She loses control of her Tilling subjects as this story progresses, and Georgie, for the first time, begins to get bored with her egotism, arrogance, narcissism and endless attempts to give herself more prestige and to organise every event, no matter how small, around herself. I found it satisfying that she was finally beginning to get some kind of comeuppance after the endless wins of Lucia's Progress. Mapp is odious as ever, and I'll always prefer Lucia over her, but Lucia did need being taken down a peg or two. The final few chapters are brilliant, with Lucia's 'revenge speech' outside the church a highlight.
Although the ending is open enough to allow for more novels (which have been written by other people), I do think it's a worthy closing number for Benson's series.
Although the ending is open enough to allow for more novels (which have been written by other people), I do think it's a worthy closing number for Benson's series.
February 14, 2021
This was a re-read. Lucia is an awful snob and social climber. The book is basically about how she and her main rival try to get to be the leader of their social group in a small English town. It sounds like it should be deadly boring, but I think it is very funny. Really, I would hate to meet someone like Lucia in real life, but when you are reading the book, you read about her strategies and how she calculates how to get an advantage on her rival. You also get to read about how she feels when things do not go her way, which makes her more human and I think is a key reason why she is bearable in the books (there are 6 "Lucia" books).
Like any book, especially a humorous one, it will not be everyone's taste, but I wanted something frivolous and amusing and I knew this would deliver.
Like any book, especially a humorous one, it will not be everyone's taste, but I wanted something frivolous and amusing and I knew this would deliver.
April 11, 2019
Au reservoir: this time it really is goodbye for this is the last chronicle of Tilling, and Benson knew it. Riseholme makes a cameo appearance and it’s clear that its inhabitants have carried on much as before sans Lucia and Georgie, but it’s the Tillingites who are her bread and butter, the grist to her mill. Say what you like about the one-time Mrs Emmeline Lucas (and they so do) but she has a mind like a steel trap and the ability to spot the main chance at a hundred furlongs. Age has most definitely not wearied her, even though, in valedictorian mode, she very nearly falls at the final hurdle. A fine way to bid arrivederci to the splendid old fraud.
July 1, 2024
What more is there to say about Lucia? Tilling is never dull with Lucia and Mapp, always with frigid civility, waging social war with one another to be the supreme leader of culture and society. While none of the events, examined objectively, is of any importance whatsoever, in this wonderful world created by Benson, seances, the mayoral race and rubbing elbows with famous personages are all consuming. This eccentric and wonderful village provides endless excitement and interest, and while the deeds can be quite underhanded, they provoke laughter and delight! These are books to be read and read again, as they never fail to touch on the heart of humanity!
November 15, 2019
Now mayor of Tilling, Lucia is willing to settle down and enjoy her triumph. But life has a way of interfering, especially when it's helped along by Lucia's arch-rival Elizabeth Mapp-Flint. Lucia even names Elizabeth her mayoress, expecting that will sweeten her a bit. But the perpetually jealous Elizabeth wants to get back to Lucia somehow. In the meantime, Tilling society follows Lucia's lead in bicycling; Georgie's old friend Olga Braceley, the leading soprano, comes home from her round-the-world tour, and an absent-minded duchess creates problems for Lucia.
January 6, 2019
This book starts off and sticks on a “tarsome” topic, Lucia’s mayorship, but builds to a delicious and satisfying ending to the series. Reading all six books was tremendous fun, more than I expected to have. I’m glad that I googled EF Benson after characters in a fictional book raved about this series. How nice that it was real.
February 19, 2019
I don’t remember this book, which I read almost ten years ago, but I must have enjoyed it, since I described it as very funny. “Full of amusing characters. Lucia is a twit—rich, bright, and the new Mayor of Tilling. How these friends maneuver and manipulate! Lucia may have trouble, primarily from the conniving Elizabeth, but she’s never down for long.”
July 13, 2020
Having earlier declared this series of books an octave, I must correct myself; it is a sextet and I have just finished the last. Sympathy for Lucia might have been a rare coin at one point in the series but it was easily come by in this final book. If you are of a certain age and mind there could be nothing better that the E.F. Benson Lucia books.
November 10, 2017
Last of the Mapp and Lucia books - I'll miss those silly people. This one is not quite as good as the rest - the characters and eccentricities have hardened into stereotypes and catchphrases - but gems like the saga of Blue Birdie make it worth reading.
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