The Complete Mapp and Lucia, Vol. 1

Written by E. F. Benson

Narrated by Georgina Sutton

Sharply observant and wickedly funny, E.F. Benson’s six ‘Mapp and Lucia’ novels satirize the upper-middle-class social climbers in 1920s and ’30s rural England. Games of bridge and cups of tea fuel hilarious gossip and vindictive plots a-plenty. It is a masterfully sustained spotlight on the minutiae of village life – a clever and ultimately heart-warming series that seems tailor-made for audio. Volume 1 contains the first three books. Book One: Queen Lucia: Imposing herself as social arbiter of Riseholme, a small village in the Cotswolds, Mrs Lucas insists on the Italianate title of ‘Queen Lucia’ even though her Italian is non-existent. As queen bee – flawlessly snobbish and overbearing – she rules over her unfortunate neighbours. Could her position be threatened by the arrival of Olga the opera singer?
Book Two: Miss Mapp: With a face ‘corrugated by chronic rage and curiosity’, Miss Mapp rules the village of Tilling as Lucia rules Riseholme. At the centre of the social jostling, she is kept alert and alive by anger and suspicion of every other resident, among whom are Diva Plaistow, Captain Puffin and Mrs Poppet.
Book Three: Lucia in London: Can Lucia be queen of town and country? When Emmeline and Philip (Lucia and Peppino) inherit a house in London, Lucia moves into a new gear as she climbs the city’s social ladder. It’s time for Riseholme residents, feeling slighted by her desertion, to prove they can manage without her.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
• Release date: Jan 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9781781983591

E. F. Benson

Edward Frederic Benson (1867–1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist, and short story writer. Benson was the son of the Archbishop of Canterbury and member of a distinguished and eccentric family. After attending Marlborough and King’s College, Cambridge, where he studied classics and archaeology, he worked at the British School of Archaeology in Athens. A great humorist, he achieved success at an early age with his first novel, Dodo(1893). Benson was a prolific author, writing over one hundred books including serious novels, ghost stories, plays, and biographies. But he is best remembered for his Lucia and Mapp comedies written between 1920 and 1939 and other comic novels such as Paying Guests and Mrs Ames. Benson served as mayor of Rye, the Sussex town that provided the model for his fictional Tilling, from 1934 to 1937.  

Reviews for The Complete Mapp and Lucia, Vol. 1

[Jenny Cooke · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Genteel and delightful stories of women trying to stay on top of their local village society. Wonderfully narrated and very funny and entertaining.

[bookwurm777 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An exhaustingly funny, beautifully written and narrated trilogy (Queen Lucia, Miss Mapp & Lucia in London) from the incredibly talented E F Benson. Now on to Vol 2.