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 i...

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

These books wouldn't be as much fun if any of the characters ever had sex.

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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.

Endlessly delightful.

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 pe...

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...

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.

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,...

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 sh...

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.

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

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 publi...

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 Cr...

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.

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

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

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