Fifth in the series, and more of the same. Good!

The fifth volume in E.F. Benson's Lucia series.... and still excellent fun. Lucia the focus of all social groups in the small English town of Tilling once again butts heads...but, in an ever-so English and polite manner, with her neighbor and rival Elizabeth Mapp. Mapp, newly married, leads others to wrongfully believe she is pregnant. Lucia and Mapp run against each other for the Town Council. They decide to swap homes. Lucia discovers Roman antiquities in her new garden-- or does she? Lucia gu...

This is the fifth volume in E.F. Benson’s wonderful series of comedic stories about snobbery and one-upmanship in England. The series began in the early 1920s but this one is set in 1935, so not long before WWII. My review contains minor spoilers.The village of Riseholme is no longer Lucia’s home, she having moved to Tilling a few years ago. Her main rival is still the indomitable Miss Mapp who, in fact, is now Mrs Mapp-Flint, she having married retired Major Benjamin Flint (Benji).These books a...

Lucia’s Progress is the fifth of E F Benson’s famous series, opening about a year after the previous story ended. Lucia is contemplating her upcoming fiftieth birthday with steely resignation. Now living in Grebe cottage, which isn’t really grand enough for Lucia, she is only looking for a chance to get her hands on Mallards again. Elizabeth Mapp is back at Mallards, though not alone. She is now married – to Major Benjy – and has hyphenated her name to Mapp-Flint. The whole of Tilling is complet...

Geez, was this written by an upper middle-class chap for the amusement of other upper middle-class folk after having read Jane Austen and Mrs. Gaskell? This is by no means the wonderful, sly, comedy of manners that Austen wrote so exquisitely, nor the lovely involvement of the world of Cranford that Mrs. Gaskell (when not feeling socially and politically motivated) wrote about. Angst-ridden social climbers, amusing to his intended audience or those who had aspirations to be that class, but not t...

As is only to be expected, as our characters move toward the late 1920s, they begin to be swept up in the wave of financial speculation that led up to the Wall Street crash of 1929, though it is some sense a plot contrivance to allow one character to get rather richer and one somewhat poorer, which allows certain other events to follow.It seems noteworthy to contemporary minds that every character in these books, regardless of income, relies on their gardens for a substantial portion of their pr...

Lucia’s Progress is book 5 in Benson’s Mapp and Lucia series, telling of the further adventures of Emmeline Lucas, ‘Lucia’, as she pits her wits against her arch-rival Elizabeth Mapp-Flint (now married to major Benjy) to be ‘queen’ of Tilling. As this instalment opens, Lucia is about to turn fifty and realises that while she has been doing her bit (more than her bit, in fact) in the social life of Tilling—from leading social life with her musical evenings and lessons, to reading to the inmates o...

My Christmas present to myself every year is to read one of my treasured collection of E. F. Benson’s Mapp & Lucia novels. I make my selection randomly because I know that whatever choice emerges I will most definitely have picked a plum. All six novels in the series are wonderful. I have read each several times and I never tire of them. As good as the Channel 4 TV adaptations starring Prunella Scales and Geraldine McEwan were (there have been other less successful attempts to bring the stories

It's another installment in the lives of Lucia and Mapp and the circle of acquaintances in Tilling, with more of the social manipulations that are the essence of these stories. You could read any of the 6 books that have been grouped into a series called "Make Way for Lucia" as stand-alones, but I have enjoyed reading them in order. I like these E. F. Benson stories as much as I like P. G. Wodehouse Blandings stories, and perhaps even a little more. It is amazing how these can be stories about u...

I wonder how how E.F. Benson devised the idea of including Emmeline "Lucia" Lucas and Elizabeth Mapp, both conniving, social-climbing queen bees, in the same book. I can imagine it now: In a moment of leisure, Benson suddenly had a stroke of brilliance: Include Mrs. Lucas and Miss Mapp in the same novel and watch the fur fly!Elizabeth Mapp has long been the uncontested queen of Tilling society -- at least in her own mind; however, when Lucia takes Mapp's cottage for a two-month holiday, she can

E.F. Benson has found his way into my heart!This book was simply brilliant. After so many mediocre stories I have read recently, this was incredibly refreshing. With a huge amount of ingenuity and intelligence Benson tells the story of a little town and its quirky inhabitants, especially two ladies who are bitter rivals and yet always smile falsely at each other. Here you can find intrigue of the most entertaining sort, not the awful pistol swinging, death plotting sort, but just fun, good-old b...

I read this book to complete the category of “Humorous or Satirical Classic” for the Back to the Classics 2015 challenge hosted at http://karensbooksandchocolate.blogsp... . This was by far my easiest choice for the challenge, as I have come to love this series; these books make me laugh out loud…frequently. Lucia’s Progress is number five, so I only have one more left, but I suspect that these books will be excellent re-reads, so I am not too sad. In this book, the Mapp and Lucia rivalry conti

Still a five-star favorite for me, several years after my first read. The endless bickering and gossip of Tilling never ceases to leave me with a great big smile on my face!In this outing Lucia and Elizabeth Mapp-Flint continue their rivalry for social domination of Tilling, both running for town council and dabbling in the stock market - and the inexhaustible Lucia takes up archeological exploration in her garden and philanthropy. Great fun and silliness among the idle, well-to-do in England in...

"'I must put up in large capital letters over my bed 'I am fifty'', she thought as she let herself into her house,'and that will remind me every morning and evening that I've done nothing yet which will be remembered after I am gone. I've been busy (I will say that for myself) but beyond giving others a few hours of enchantment at the piano, and helping them to keep supple, I've done nothing for the world or indeed for Tilling. I must take myself in hand.'"Lucia's Progress continues the comic ri...

I thought that I had read the entire Mapp & Lucia series but nothing in this 5th entry in the series struck me as familiar. In any case, I continue to enjoy the rivalry between Miss Mapp (now Mrs. Mapp-Flint) and Lucia!

Every word is perfect and these books are a great joy of my life!

Darlings, you simply must view the outrageous exhibition on display in Tilling! Art should of course both enlighten and revivify - but sometimes it must shock as well! And this display will shock the bonnets right off of your heads! Who knew the charms of provincial life in a small town would be but pleasant cover for all of the bloodthirstiness, public humiliation, devious politicking, and cuttingly passive-aggressive "compliments" running rampant in this arena? The cozy cobbled lanes of Tillin...

The second book about Lucia's battle with Miss Mapp, now successfully Mistress Mapp-Flint, for social supremacy in Tilling. Lucia takes up archeology, the money market and politics, and her platonic romance with Georgie comes to a crisis. Just absolutely scrumptious and laced with poison, especially when Elizabeth is involved.

I don’t write reviews. This edition presents Mapp and Lucia in an election bid for town council of Tilling. They continue at loggerheads throughout. Though Lucia always turns up a little sweeter since she’s not really mean like Mapp. I found that Diva was the real standout in the series for me. She’s silly and strange, rushing around, “popping in” and out of stores and houses to gather more gossip. I enjoy her straightforward dealings with Mapp. Georgie is my other favourite. He is weak and need...

More Mapp and Lucia rivalry, which is really what makes these books so much fun.