E. F. Benson (1867–1940)

The last of the original series of these novels, this is perhaps the least of them. And that's fair: Benson was in his 70s by the time this novel was published, and would die mere months later. Still, the world of Tilling is richly embroidered and there is plenty of fun to be had. Perhaps the laughs don't come every single line, and one almost feels like one is reading a light novel rather than a light comic novel, but fans will still delight in the madness. Just not a place to start for a newcomer.

Luckily we have numerous authors who have taken up the baton of this series since the 1980s - some wonderful, some less so - so that we are assured that Elizabeth, Georgie, Lucia, Diva, Irene and the gang will never truly leave us.… (mer)

It is no wonder that, when E.F. Benson decided to further the adventures of his divine Emmeline "Lucia" Lucas, he brought her to the town of Tilling. For here, in the first (pre-Lucia) Tilling novel, everything is absurd and hilarious in equal measure. Indeed, Lucia so o'erwhelms the measure in the later books that it is worth settling in to Miss Mapp to recall how perfect Benson's comic creations are, from the doughty title character to "quaint" (read: queer) Irene, the entire town ready to burst into a frenzy over the hoarding of corned beef or the origin of a recipe for "red currant fool".

My comic ideal.… (mer)

"Scrumptious" is a word I've probably never used in my life, but it seems rather apt for this series. E.F. Benson's delectable light comedy is a cross between Austen and Wodehouse, somehow more savage than either and yet more fond of the characters at the same time.

Queen Lucia introduces us to the immortal Emmeline Lucas, renowned for her dinner parties in which she will play the First Movement of the Moonlight Sonata, but will then beg off playing the second and third movements on the grounds that they are more "morning and afternoon" (*cough* she can't quite play them yet *cough). Lucia dominates life, along with her effete best friend Georgie, in their idyllic town of Riseholme, while Lucia in London takes the characters on the road for some urban satire. Miss Mapp, originally a separate novel entirely, shows us the life of the doughty, determined Elizabeth Mapp in the quirky, rather insular town of Tilling. Finally, in Mapp and Lucia, the two women are brought together, two generals in the field, each determined to have complete control of their terrain. Benson would eventually carry on this story in Trouble for Lucia and Lucia's Progress.

This joyous series is light and sparkling, but remains a fantastic break from reality 100 years after the first book was published. The last three novels were famously adapted in the 1980s with Prunella Scales, Nigel Hawthorne, and a career-best Geraldine McEwan in the lead roles. This led to McEwan and Scales releasing the books on tape, which are a real gem if you can find them. (Like Wodehouse, Benson's novels lend themselves to being read aloud.) The books were adapted again for a far shorter miniseries in the 2010s which was well cast but a little over-zealous in my opinion.

Since the 1980s adaptation brought the books back into the culture, several novelists have tried their hand at sequels. Tom Holt's two volumes are well worth reading, but the more recent trilogy by Guy Fraser-Sampson were, to my mind, a complete failure, utterly at odds with Benson's approach.

I was so glad to find this six-volume Folio Society edition from the 1990s, with the original six novels in beautiful cloth-bound hardcover, and elegant illustrations.

A lifelong treat for lovers of this sort of humour.… (mer)