Reviews for Mapp and Lucia

The average rating for Mapp and Lucia based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-01-05 00:00:00 Dean Byrum Darlings, you simply must join us for... AN ELIZABETHAN FÊTE AT TILLING VILLAGE! And by "fête" we mean slaughter, darlings! Indeed, things shall get bloody, or at the very least, quite tense. Lips will be curled and stares will be cold and words will be delivered with a certain sardonic disdain - or perhaps a bright, cheerful condescension. Such things are par per il corso when it is Queen versus Queen! Which Queen shall triumph? Shall it be the formidable Queen Elizabeth Mapp? She does have the home advantage. Her frugal and abstemious ways and means have commanded the upper classes of Tilling for who knows how long. They march in lockstep to her lovingly militaristic tunes, during bridge parties and afternoon teas and art openings; they are carefully watched, reviewed, and evaluated on a daily basis from her sitting room window. Bloody Liblib has successfully and brutally stamped out any hint of insurrection. All hail her dark and malevolent majesty! Or shall it be that brilliant interloper, Queen Lucia Lucas? After holding her quaint village of Riseholme in thrall for who knows how long, she has grown bored and comes to Tilling for the summer... or perhaps longer? She will bring delightful dinner parties featuring Lobster à la Riseholme, generous deployment of la lingua italiana, heaps of Mozart duos on piano, and healthy bouts of calisthenics on that quaint cinder path - or in the kitchen when weather is inclement. Golden Lulu seeks to expand both minds and her personal empire. All hail her fair and benevolent majesty! But perhaps it shall be Nature that triumphs? There is a tide... No matter who shall prevail, in the end, the true winner is the reader! Benson pokes, pinches, smacks, slaps, and scours the idle somewhat-rich of Tilling Village and the results are as tart and tasty as a lemon bar. Surely it was a stroke of genius, or some such mind-state, to bring the two "heroines" of past novels together in this ferocious battle of will, clenched teeth, and frosty "compliments". Darlings, I was simply dying to see who shall rise and who shall fall in this deadly war. You simply must come to this delicious bloodbath!

Review # 2 was written on 2017-04-12 00:00:00 Humberto Olmos A charming, witty novel from 1935. Lucia, a beautiful young widow, moves to a Sussex village long dominated by the spinster Miss Mapp; their battle for social supremacy pulsates with refined vindictiveness that'no shame here'delighted me, several times to the point of squealing aloud. Amid the hilarity, I thought differently and deeply about things like nicknaming, pet expressions and "home". I loved this a thousand times more than expected.