Mapp and Lucia
E. F. Benson
326 pages
published in 1931

My girlfriend strongly suggested I should read this, so I did. I've heard her and others praise E. F. Benson'd novels before, especially the Lucia series, not to mention that Tom Holt has written two sequels to the Lucia series, so I didn't need much persuasion.

Happily, I wasn't disappointed. Mapp and Lucia is light society humour, somewhat in the line (but very different from) P. G. Wodehouse's novels. The plot revolves around the attempts by two society grande dames, Mapp and Lucia, to get the upper hand on each other. At times, it's very bitchy in nature, which is the main attraction of this book, I admit.

Benson apparantely had written about both before, but this is the first time the two met. Both were the spills around which their respective village's social life revolved, both easily dominating it. They meet when Lucia rents Mapps' Elizabethan village for the summer, while Mapp herself rents another cottage in the village, this being usual practise in Tilling.

The plot is episodic, with Lucia mainly having the upper hand. The viewpoint switches equally between them both and I was a bit disappointed Mapp didn't have as much success as Lucia did in her schemes..

I'll be on the lookout for more of Benson's work.