Miss Mapp

by E. F. Benson Narrated by LibriVox Community

Overview

E. F. Benson's Mapp and Lucia series, consists of six novels and three short stories. The novels are: Queen Lucia, Lucia in London, Miss Mapp (including the short story The Male Impersonator), Mapp and Lucia, Lucia's Progress (published as The Worshipful Lucia in the U.S.) and Trouble for Lucia.

The novels feature humorous incidents in the lives of (mainly) upper-middle-class British people in the 1920s and 1930s, vying for social prestige and "one-upmanship" in an atmosphere of extreme cultural snobbery. Most of these works are set in the fictional village of "Tilling", which is based on the village of Rye, Sussex, England. "Mallards", the house with the garden room inhabited by Miss Mapp, and later by Lucia, is based on Lamb House, Benson's own home in Rye. Earlier, the house was the Sussex home of writer Henry James. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia by Karen Merline.)

Editorial Reviews

FEB/MAR 02 - AudioFile

Fans of E.F. Benson's Lucia novels may miss the eponymous Lucia in this tale of the English village of Tilling, but they'll have no other quarrels. Nadia May does a hilarious Miss Mapp, the small-minded small-town heiress of a certain age who leads an absolutely full life spying on and attempting to best her neighbors. When Miss Mapp addresses her most disliked rival as "Diva darling," you can hear the way her teeth are set and see the awful smile. Nancy Mitford once wrote that she had feared rereading these astute and funny stories but found them "fresh as paint." They haven't changed yet, and I hope May will give us all of them. B.G. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169161465
Publisher:	LibriVox
Publication date:	08/25/2014
Sales rank:	929,805

Videos